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Originally found over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for digital platform algorithms.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a viral TikTok topic has thrust it into the lead of an promotional upheaval, where major corporations are spending big on content creators and putting fewer resources into promoting products in traditional media.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

First created commercially in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers using on their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Currently, a wave of content from users have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

Hailed as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, as well as a fix for creaky hinges. Users have even applied it to stop the scourge of snack dust adhering to hands.

Leveraging the Buzz

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

Suggestions that it lessened the sting of chili on the mouth were given the thumbs up. This was also the case for ideas it could lengthen scent duration and restore leather handbags. Proposals that it might bleach teeth or extend lashes were refuted.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. But the Vaseline phenomenon has led decision-makers to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to shape commercial tactics has been labeled “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, freshly instated, has stated the intention is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

A leading Unilever executive, who is leading the online push, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was crucial.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and talking about what they used.

“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just broadcast out … Currently, it's countless discussions, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these communities feel niche, but they’re not.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, recommended by peers, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Creators are critical to that. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The strategy reflects dramatic transformations occurring in how media is consumed, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than legacy broadcast and print media.

The shift is reflected in declines in TV and print advertising. Within the United Kingdom, ad revenues for primary networks have fallen by more than £600m in actual value since the end of the last decade.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

It also reflects a media convergence as corporations essentially turn into content studios, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform us audiences believe endorsements from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. This is a persistent pattern.”

He said brands could also save money by focusing on influencers over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than the media industry overall. In the US, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain tens of billions in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Regardless of the massive shift, executives said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to drive countrywide discourse.

The executive noted: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still major broadcast spectacles. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”