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As a product discovered more than 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the simple jar of Vaseline could hardly be considered an natural focus for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and reducing expenditure on marketing items in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

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

Hailed as a remedy for cleaning shoes or extending perfume longevity, and also a remedy for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Noticing its viral resurgence, marketers at Unilever boosted the tips by tasking their in-house experts with verification and letting the content creators in on the results.

Suggestions that it lessened the sensation of spicy food on lips were given the thumbs up. Similarly supported were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and revive leather bags. Suggestions it could bleach teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. But the Vaseline phenomenon has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to guide corporate planning has been labeled “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, newly named, has indicated the goal is to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on digital creator content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

The company's social media lead, who is leading the online push, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of engaging audiences. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was crucial.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, since the era of community gossip and talking about what they used.

“We are witnessing a departure from a mass communication approach, where we would just broadcast out … Currently, it's countless discussions, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these communities feel niche, yet they are vast.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by users, mentioned by individuals, 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 seismic changes occurring in how media is consumed, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than television, magazines or radio.

The shift is reflected in drops in traditional media advertising. Across Britain, advertising income for leading TV channels have fallen by more than £600m in actual value since the end of the last decade.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

Additionally, it points to a media convergence as corporations essentially turn into content studios, collaborating with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences from conventional channels and they are dedicating far more hours to 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 personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He said brands could also save money by targeting content creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

Such methods are increasing. Promotional expenditure on digital creator partnerships is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. In the US, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, industry figures said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

She added: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still 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.”