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First identified over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline may not seem like an obvious target for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an advertising revolution, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and devoting less capital to advertising goods in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

Originally produced in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Today, a spree of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a solution for polishing footwear or making fragrance last longer, along with a cure for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to stop the scourge of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and letting the content creators in on the results.

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 rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could brighten smiles or lengthen eyelashes were refuted.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Billboards and TV ads would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. But the Vaseline phenomenon has led decision-makers to ramp up funding for content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, recently appointed, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on platform-based material.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is leading the online push, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. She said interacting online “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? This remains our core objective as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and sharing usage tips.

“We are witnessing a departure from a broadcast model, where we would just transmit messages … Today, it's numerous dialogues, various groups. The evolution of platform algorithms means that these communities feel niche, but they’re not.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Content makers are key. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates profound shifts happening in audience habits, with the youth demographic allocating more attention to social media platforms than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The shift is reflected in declines in traditional media advertising. In the UK, advertising income for primary networks have dropped substantially in real terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

Additionally, it points to a blurring of media roles as corporations essentially turn into content studios, collaborating with hundreds of content creators to promote their goods.

A commercial director at a major talent agency 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 people trust recommendations from the individuals they follow over traditional advertisements. This is a persistent pattern.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by focusing on influencers over big traditional media campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Promotional expenditure on digital creator partnerships is growing fourfold quicker than the broader media sector. Across the United States, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is projected to reach multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Despite the huge changes, industry figures 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 the Super Bowl. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”