The 30-Year Ad Conversion

So, I had to have a tooth extracted this past weekend.

That’s a story in and of itself. But this isn’t about that. This is about brand marketing. And I’m no marketer, so this is all going to be pretty basic for any marketing folks out there, but I’d love your critique or additional present day insights.

Leading up to my tooth extraction, there were moments when I longed for an instant solution to the pain. A magic bullet that would make it go away. And then it hit me: Ambysol.

Well not exactly Ambysol. Anbesol.

If the name rings zero bells, then you’re probably not the same vintage or didn’t grow up glued to ‘80s and ‘90s TV ads like I was.

Anbesol is an on-touch pain relief product targeting gums and teeth. They ran several memorable ad campaigns in the 80s and 90s, the one that stuck with me was this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=watk0EXIvd8

How fast does Anbesol start to relieve toothache pain? Before you can say Anbesol!

Surely that product no longer exists… or perhaps it does?

I circled the pharmacy aisles and asked around. The senior pharmacist directed me right to it.

The box didn’t look how I thought it might, and I had the spelling wrong, but sure enough, it was the thing. In all its pain curing glory, straight from the hall of fame of lasting ads in my brain. And now, finally, the moment my marketing-naive brain assumes they were all waiting for: conversion.

Then vs Now

All this to say — I think the days of a single brand marketing campaign sitting in someone’s brain for 30 years are behind us. Probably actually have been behind us since 2000 or so, I’m just only noticing now.

We used to have shared ad culture. The same jingles on TGIF and the radio, the same commercials before cartoons. Ads became a part of a cultural vocabulary. Today it’s all personal algorithms that are optimized for clicks and attribution (although there is a trend of starting to share these views too).

Digital ads are optimized to be clicked, not remembered. They aim for instant action, and not long term recall. I

We’re rapidly approaching a world where tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity serve us exactly what we need, all in a measurable and attributable way.

And in this world, there is no room for a brand’s messaging to place a lasting memory for hedged conversion moment down the line. Now we need to search for it to find it —and if search stays authentic and un-gamed, this feels like a perfectly fine result (wishful thinking for sure, but Perplexity has touted their values here).

There is still a role for brand recall, but as far as I can see its mostly for physical products. Those Anbesol packages still need to stand out on pharmacy shelves, clothing brands need recognition in stores, restaurants need recall when you’re hungry.

But who’s going to pay for broad-reach, memorable campaigns when conversion is hard to quantify and CFOs want ROI for this quarter?

And even if they did… what does staying power look like in 2025?

The Long Game

Talk about playing the long game! That ad has been circling in my head for over 30 years, never even being considered by my frontal cortex, always consumed passively with a portion of my brain. But laid a deep foundation, with a keen hook and a unique set of words, and sure enough it was here to stay.

Was a decade long lasting impression a requirement? Because they know people experience tooth pain infrequently, was it a design that their hook needed to be so good as to last years? Cause it worked.

If there are hallowed halls of my brain for these iconic ads, what is the equivalent in modern day ad space? Digital ads are hyper targeted and becoming more personalized — they play less on repetition, and more on A/B testing to evoke a click or conversion. Will they have the same staying power?

What will this look like for my kids in 30 years, that are sadly absorbing ad slop on YouTube. Maybe given the uniqueness of those ads, nothing will stick. Or maybe given the AI targeting, things will stick so much more and occupy space otherwise better used for creativity.

Whomp Whomp

And in the end? I didn’t find the product worked very well to relieve my pain! But the ad worked wonders. Good for them for sticking around all these years!