🔗 Share this article

First identified over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the simple jar of Vaseline could hardly be considered an natural focus for social media algorithms.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, where major corporations are spending big on content creators and reducing expenditure on marketing items in traditional media.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

Originally produced in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers rubbing their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Currently, a wave of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a fix for dirty sneakers or extending perfume longevity, and also a remedy for noisy doorways. It has even been deployed to prevent the annoyance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Noticing its viral resurgence, executives at the multinational boosted the tips by tasking their in-house experts with verification and sharing the findings with influencers.

Suggestions that it lessened the burn from hot food on the lips were given the thumbs up. So too were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Claims that it would whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. But the Vaseline phenomenon has led decision-makers to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, newly named, has indicated the goal is to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on digital creator content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of reaching consumers. She said interacting online “without killing the party” was crucial.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, since the era of community gossip and sharing usage tips.

“The trend is shifting from a mass communication approach, where we would just broadcast out … Today, it's numerous dialogues, diverse communities. The evolution of platform algorithms means that these communities feel niche, however, they are large.

“Having your brand advocated by other people, 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 Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates profound shifts taking place in media consumption, 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 broadcast and newspaper ads. In the UK, ad revenues for major broadcasters have declined by over six hundred million pounds in real terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

This further signifies a merging of functions as brands effectively act as media producers, 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 their time is increasingly on digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. It's an ongoing shift.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by focusing on influencers over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to test effectiveness.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on the creator economy is rising at quadruple the rate than the broader media sector. Across the United States, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is projected to reach tens of billions in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as networks still held the capability to drive countrywide discourse.

The executive noted: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still events like the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”