🔗 Share this article

As a product discovered over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the simple jar of Vaseline may not seem like an obvious target for social media algorithms.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a popular subject on TikTok has thrust it into the lead of an marketing transformation, in which large companies are allocating substantial funds to content creators and reducing expenditure on advertising goods in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers rubbing their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Now, a flood of user-generated videos have chronicled its broad application in “life hacks”.

Hailed as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, along with a cure for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to prevent the annoyance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and providing creators with the outcome data.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. So too were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and revive leather bags. Proposals that it might bleach teeth or make eyelashes longer were refuted.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. Yet this viral episode has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This observation of social channels to guide corporate planning has been labeled “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

The company's social media lead, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of connecting with customers. She said participating on platforms “without killing the party” was essential.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and discussing household products.

“We are witnessing a departure from a mass communication approach, where we would just transmit messages … Currently, it's countless discussions, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these audiences appear specific, but they’re not.

“Having your brand advocated by consumers, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The strategy reflects seismic changes occurring in how media is consumed, with the youth demographic spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The transition is visible in declines in broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, commercial funding for major broadcasters have dropped substantially in real terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

Additionally, it points to a media convergence as large companies almost become production houses themselves, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

Leon Harlow said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences from conventional channels and they are dedicating far more hours to social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Many companies report to us audiences believe endorsements from the personalities they subscribe to more than they trust ads. It's an ongoing shift.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by targeting content creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to see what works.

This strategy is expanding. Marketing investment on digital creator partnerships is growing fourfold quicker than the broader media sector. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Despite the huge changes, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as networks still held the capability to drive countrywide discourse.

Sykes said: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”