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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
To create a cream that would both dry out the pimples (thanks to its mixture of sulfur and resorcinol) and cover them up (thanks to its flesh coloring).The medication did the job—and pretty effectively, as well. There was a problem, though: Because many of the acne medications that predated Clearasil didn’t work so well, it created a problem in selling the concept to stores, which were afraid of getting burned again. Fortunately, Combe was a strong marketer, and came up with an offer retailers couldn’t refuse: Here, have it for free, and sell it to your customers; if they like it, buy more from us.The strategy worked, and incredibly well. Ivan Combe had just figured out one of the most important marketing lessons of the 20th century: Pimples are annoying, and teens will pay lots of money to be rid of them.Dick Clark, as shown in a 1959 ad for Clearasil published in Life Magazine.After Combe’s company (which later took his name) got the word of mouth going, he got the help of an ageless teenager: Dick Clark. Clearasil was just American Bandstand’s second sponsor, and it was a match made in heaven. Clark’s hard-to-forget face even appeared in the company’s print advertising.(Clark became so associated with the acne-fighting brand that a 1973 Rolling Stone interview with the Bandstand host was titled “Dick Clark: 20 Years of Clearasil Rock.”)A 1966 Clearasil ad.By 1960, Combe had sold off the brand to cold medicine makers Richardson-Vicks, a firm that was still years off from its biggest hit, NyQuil, and stayed on as a consultant with Vicks for a time. The knowledge he gained from learning the ropes at a bigger company led his namesake firm to even bigger success in the over-the-counter healthcare market. His company’s other big hits, all of which
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