🔗 Share this article

As a product discovered more than 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the simple jar of Vaseline may not seem like an natural focus for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a popular subject on TikTok has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, where major corporations are allocating substantial funds to content creators and devoting less capital to marketing items in traditional media.

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 user-generated videos have chronicled its broad application in “everyday tips”.

Hailed as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, as well as a fix for creaky hinges. Its use has even extended to prevent the annoyance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Capitalising on the Conversation

Spotting its digital renaissance, executives at the multinational enhanced the tricks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and letting the content creators in on the results.

Suggestions that it lessened the sting of chili on the mouth were confirmed. This was also the case for ideas it could extend fragrance and revive leather bags. Claims that it would bleach teeth or make eyelashes longer were debunked.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

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

This observation of social channels to guide corporate planning has been labeled “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, recently appointed, has suggested it is aiming to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on digital creator content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

A leading Unilever executive, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of engaging audiences. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was essential.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, since the era of community gossip and talking about what they used.

“The trend is shifting from a mass communication approach, where we would just broadcast out … Currently, it's countless discussions, diverse communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, however, they are large.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by users, talked about by other people, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The strategy reflects seismic changes occurring in how media is consumed, with Gen Z and millennial audiences allocating more attention to apps like TikTok and Instagram than television, magazines or radio.

The shift is reflected in falling revenues for broadcast and newspaper ads. Within the United Kingdom, advertising income for major broadcasters have fallen by more than £600m in actual value since the end of the last decade.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

It also reflects a media convergence as large companies almost become production houses themselves, linking up with hundreds of content creators to enhance their items.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers away from some legacy media and they are dedicating far more hours to social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Many companies report to us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the creators they engage with more than they trust ads. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by focusing on influencers over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to see what works.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than the media industry overall. Across the United States, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is projected to reach tens of billions 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: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still major broadcast spectacles. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”