🔗 Share this article

Originally found over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a popular subject on TikTok has thrust it into the lead of an advertising revolution, in which large companies are allocating substantial funds to content creators and reducing expenditure on marketing items in legacy broadcasters.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

First created commercially in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Currently, a wave of content from users have documented the product’s widespread use in “everyday tips”.

Promoted as a solution for polishing footwear or extending perfume longevity, as well as a fix for squeaky doors. Users have even applied it to prevent the annoyance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Spotting its digital renaissance, executives at the multinational boosted the tips by tasking their in-house experts with verification and providing creators with the outcome data.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sting of chili on the mouth were given the thumbs up. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or make eyelashes longer were debunked.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. However, this online trend has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to shape commercial tactics has been labeled “social listening”. The company's chief executive, recently appointed, has indicated the goal is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

A leading Unilever executive, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of engaging audiences. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was essential.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and talking about what they used.

“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just send out ads … Currently, it's countless discussions, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these audiences appear specific, yet they are vast.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by users, recommended by peers, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The approach indicates dramatic transformations happening in audience habits, with the youth demographic spending more time on digital networks than television, magazines or radio.

This change is evidenced by falling revenues for TV and print advertising. Within the United Kingdom, commercial funding for leading TV channels have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

Additionally, it points to a media convergence as large companies almost become production houses themselves, partnering with hundreds of content creators to promote their goods.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the individuals they follow more than they trust ads. This is a persistent pattern.”

He said brands could also save money by focusing on influencers over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to gauge performance.

Such methods are increasing. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is increasing four times faster than the broader media sector. Stateside, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Despite the huge changes, industry figures said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

Sykes said: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”