Hello all.

It is much better to address the person by name, but in the case of newspaper ads, in which no name is mentioned, how do I go about doing it?

Is it ok to just write 'Dear Sir/Madam' ?

Or will something like 'Dearest Esteemed Sir/Madam' a bit too much?

Indeed they won't. Come to think of it, what good does it do? It's like saying, "I've checked you out, but I don't think you are good enough".