A behind-the-scenes peek at the making of the latest CLR Commercials

How do you coordinate more than 40 cast and crew in order to produce seven TV commercials in five days? Very carefully, as the old saying goes. It really takes a lot of planning and a little luck. Jelmar, the makers of CLR and Tarn-X, has been creating TV commercials since the 1960s. Take a look at some of them here .

Depending on how old you are, a few of these may even take you back to your childhood. And as you can see, most of our old commercials focused on the product demonstration and not people. Back then, we were proud of what our products can do, and we wanted to let the world know. Who wouldn’t? 50+ years later we’re still proud, but today, a lot more people know how well the CLR family of products can clean all kinds of messes. So, for our latest commercials, we thought we’d try something a little different. The products are still stars, but they play more of a supporting role to the real star… you. Check out some of what went into the making them, which will starting running this spring. We hope you enjoy.

Location, Location, Location.

The locations for the shoot were scouted with the intention of showing a variety of living environments while accommodating more than 40 cast and crew. Not an easy task, but we ended up choosing two houses that meet our needs. 

A vast number of individual shots had to be completed in a short amount of time. The precision performance of the production team was able to shoot in one part of the house while another team set up the next shot in a different area. As soon as all the shots were complete for the scene, the coordination and speed were like an Indy pit crew.
 

The early bird gets the ... 

We make a real mess when we're on set. Some people find it hard to believe, but the calcium, lime, mold and rust you see in the commercials are are all real. In other words, real gunk!





















As soon as the director, Vince Gaffney, got the green light, the first call he made was to his special effects artist, Geoff Binns-Calvey. Who he affectionally refers to as “the GUNK guy”.  He starts culturing the substrates about three months before shooting begins so we have an ample amount on hand for multiple demonstrations and takes.

Casting the Right Talent:

Since this was the first time we focused on capturing the everyday moments of peoples’ lives, we wanted to be sure that it reflected the diversity of the world we live in.



We worked with casting agencies in our hometown Chicago and provided them with the direction for each of the primary roles and the extras. We started with more than 70 great possibilities and ended up with the select few talented individuals we thought did a great job of representing the CLR brand. 

So look for our new spots running on television starting in April!