🔗 Share this article

As a product discovered over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an clear candidate for social media algorithms.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has placed it at the forefront of an advertising revolution, seeing big businesses allocating substantial funds to content creators and putting fewer resources into promoting products in conventional outlets.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, a spree of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “life hacks”.

Promoted as a solution for polishing footwear or prolonging the scent of perfume, and also a remedy for squeaky doors. Its use has even extended to prevent the annoyance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, executives at the multinational enhanced the tricks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and letting the content creators in on the results.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sting of chili on the mouth were validated. Similarly supported were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and restore leather handbags. Claims that it would whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. However, this online trend has led decision-makers to ramp up funding for content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on social media 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 participating on platforms “without spoiling the atmosphere” 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.

“There’s this moving away from a broadcast model, where we would just send out ads … Today, it's numerous dialogues, diverse communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these audiences appear specific, yet they are vast.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by consumers, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Content makers are key. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

This plan mirrors seismic changes occurring in how media is consumed, with younger consumers devoting greater hours to apps like TikTok and Instagram than legacy broadcast and print media.

This change is evidenced by drops in traditional media advertising. Across Britain, commercial funding for primary networks have dropped substantially in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as corporations essentially turn into content studios, partnering with numerous influencers to boost their products.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention out of certain traditional media outlets and they are dedicating far more hours to digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform us people trust recommendations from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. 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 test effectiveness.

This strategy is expanding. Marketing investment on the creator economy is increasing four times faster than total media spending. Stateside, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Even with this transformation, industry figures said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as networks still held the capability 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 a matter of networks declaring: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”