Responses by Jeff Beck; senior vice president, group creative director; Havas Chicago.
Background: Stanley Steemer had a strong hold on the Boomer generation but needed to gain relevance with Gen X and millennials, who saw the company as their “grandparents’ carpet cleaner.” Because of that perception, it was clear we needed to modernize the brand and expand consumer understanding of its breadth of services beyond carpet cleaning while still engaging its strong Boomer base.
Design thinking: As we dug into research, we realized very quickly that one big problem stood in our way. Over the years, generations have adapted new approaches to cleaning their homes, from Boomers who valued the deep clean to Gen X who cut corners to “have it all” to millennials who embrace the clean aesthetic or surface-level clean. The sentiment: it’s clean enough.
But “clean enough” is dust mites and rodent feces in your air ducts. It’s carpet that’s dirtier than a toilet seat. It’s millions of germs harbored in your grout even after scrubbing. So, we set out to let people know that clean enough is not enough—clean enough is actually filthy. The campaign not only reclaims the Stanley Steemer swagger but addresses a key consumer barrier—not wanting strangers in the home—by personifying The Steemer, the only person you call when you absolutely need it deep cleaned right.
Challenges: The most challenging (and most exciting) aspect of this project was how quickly we needed to move. The goal was to launch a new impactful campaign in Q4 so we could successfully lay the groundwork for Stanley Steemer and our new brand character in 2026. From winning the Stanley Steemer account to our first production day, we had a little over a month. So, we packed a lot into that month to deliver this work on time for our client. I’d like to give a huge shoutout to our fearless production team, who went above and beyond to get this all done.
Favorite details: We’re truly proud of how simply these stories are told. With so many inputs and stakeholders, there’s a tendency for advertising to get too complex and complicated. Keeping our content simple let the comedy in these pieces shine.
New lessons: We didn’t have a ton of time from the moment we won the business to our production. So, as a team, we all held hands and chose to trust our instincts versus overthink things. In looking at the end result, I think we all learned that often your first instinct is the right one.
Specific project demands: We were tasked with talking about the whole suite of what Stanley Steemer has to offer and reintroducing the brand to a new audience, and we only had a few short weeks to do it. It required an “all hands on deck” approach, but it enabled our team to quickly gel with new client partners to produce brand work that will truly have an impact.
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