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As a product discovered over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for online content feeds.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and putting fewer resources into advertising goods in legacy broadcasters.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

Originally produced in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers applying to their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Now, a flood of content from users have documented the product’s widespread use in “everyday tips”.

Promoted 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 crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Capitalising on the Conversation

Spotting its digital renaissance, executives at the multinational boosted the tips 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 confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Suggestions it could bleach teeth or extend lashes were refuted.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Outdoor advertising and television commercials would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. But the Vaseline phenomenon has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to inform business strategy has been dubbed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, freshly instated, has stated the intention is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on platform-based material.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

A leading Unilever executive, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. She said interacting online “without killing the party” was crucial.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and sharing usage tips.

“There’s this moving away from a mass communication approach, where we would just transmit messages … Now it’s many conversations, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these audiences appear specific, but they’re not.

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

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The approach indicates seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with younger consumers allocating more attention to apps like TikTok and Instagram than television, magazines or radio.

The shift is reflected in declines in TV and print advertising. Within the United Kingdom, commercial funding for leading TV channels have declined by over six hundred million pounds in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

It also reflects a media convergence as large companies almost become production houses themselves, collaborating with hundreds of content creators to promote their goods.

Leon Harlow said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention out of certain traditional media outlets and they are dedicating far more hours to social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by focusing on influencers over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to see what works.

Such methods are increasing. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is rising at quadruple the rate than total media spending. Stateside, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Even with this transformation, executives said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to frame public debate.

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