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As a product discovered over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the humble pot of Vaseline might not appear as an natural focus for digital platform algorithms.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses allocating substantial funds to content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

Originally produced in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers rubbing their skin with a derivative of drilling. Currently, a wave of amateur-created clips have recorded its extensive utilization in “everyday tips”.

Promoted as a fix for dirty sneakers or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for squeaky doors. Its use has even extended to prevent the annoyance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, executives at the multinational amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and providing creators with the outcome data.

Suggestions that it lessened the sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Claims that it would brighten smiles or make eyelashes longer were disproven.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Billboards and TV ads would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. However, this online trend has helped convince executives to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, newly named, has suggested it is aiming to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on social media content.

Shifting to Modern Engagement

A leading Unilever executive, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. She said participating on platforms “without killing the party” was essential.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? This remains our core objective as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and discussing household products.

“There’s this moving away from a mass communication approach, where we would just transmit messages … Currently, it's countless discussions, diverse communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, but they’re not.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Creators are critical to that. We are expanding this endorsement system.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

This plan mirrors profound shifts happening in audience habits, with younger consumers spending more time on social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.

The shift is reflected in falling revenues for traditional media advertising. Across Britain, ad revenues for major broadcasters have dropped substantially in actual value since the end of the last decade.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

This further signifies a media convergence as corporations essentially turn into content studios, partnering with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

Leon Harlow said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and their time is increasingly on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform us audiences believe endorsements from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He said brands could also save money by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to test effectiveness.

The approach is growing. Advertising spending on the creator economy is rising at quadruple the rate than total media spending. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Despite the huge changes, executives said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as broadcasters retained the power to drive countrywide discourse.

She added: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still events like the Super Bowl. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”