Pepsodent Created Brushing Habits

A story about how Claude Hopkins revolutionized dental hygiene through marketing for Pepsodent toothpaste in the 1920s.

"Claude Hopkins was approached by a toothpaste company called Pepsodent. They wanted to sell more toothpaste. He looked at the situation and realized there was a problem. He said to Pepsodent, 'Only 5% of people brush their teeth on a daily basis, so why are you even in this business?'

He created a masterful ad campaign that built Pepsodent into the dominating toothpaste brand for decades. The ad said 'The film that discolors the whitest teeth' and had you do a demonstration - take the tip of your tongue and put it over your front teeth to feel that film. The ad explained that brushing with Pepsodent would remove that film, and behind it was a movie star smile.

Within a decade, 85% of Americans were brushing their teeth daily. About 10 years in, other companies tried to compete using similar campaigns but couldn't get repeat orders. Through focus groups, they discovered people loved Pepsodent because it had this minty flavor that made their mouth tingle after brushing. When other companies started copying the tingle, then it became actually competitive. But for 10 years, they owned the market because they had both the powerful ad campaign and that tingle sensation that made people feel it was working."