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First identified over 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the simple jar of Vaseline might not appear as an natural focus for digital platform algorithms.

However, its rise as a TikTok talking point has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in conventional outlets.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

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

Promoted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for creaky hinges. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Leveraging the Buzz

Spotting its digital renaissance, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by asking their own scientists to test them and letting the content creators in on the results.

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. Suggestions it could whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes 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 monitoring of online platforms to inform business strategy has been labeled “social listening”. The company's chief executive, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on platform-based material.

Shifting to Modern Engagement

Selina Sykes, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of engaging audiences. She said participating on platforms “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? 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 broadcast model, where we would just transmit messages … Today, it's numerous dialogues, many communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, yet they are vast.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by users, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The strategy reflects dramatic transformations happening in audience habits, with younger consumers allocating more attention to social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.

This change is evidenced by declines in TV and print advertising. Across Britain, commercial funding for primary networks have declined by over six hundred million pounds in actual value since the end of the last decade.

The Creator Economy Boom

This further signifies a blurring of media roles as brands effectively act as media producers, linking up with numerous influencers to promote their goods.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention from conventional channels and they’re spending a lot more time on digital video and image apps than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“Numerous corporations inform us people trust recommendations from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to test effectiveness.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is increasing four times faster than total media spending. In the US, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Regardless of the massive shift, executives said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “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.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”