🔗 Share this article

As a product discovered over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the humble pot of Vaseline may not seem like an natural focus for digital platform algorithms.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a popular subject on TikTok has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and reducing expenditure on promoting products in conventional outlets.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a derivative of drilling. Now, a flood of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “everyday tips”.

It has been touted as a fix for dirty sneakers or making fragrance last longer, as well as a fix for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to prevent the annoyance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and providing creators with the outcome data.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and rejuvenate purses. Proposals that it might bleach teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Billboards and TV ads would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. Yet this viral episode has persuaded leaders to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on digital creator content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

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

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This remains our core objective as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and sharing usage tips.

“We are witnessing a departure from a one-to-many model, where we would just send out ads … Today, it's numerous dialogues, various groups. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, but they’re not.

“Having your brand advocated by consumers, recommended by peers, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Content makers are key. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The approach indicates dramatic transformations taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences allocating more attention to social media platforms than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The shift is reflected in drops in TV and print advertising. Across Britain, commercial funding for major broadcasters have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

Additionally, it points to a merging of functions as corporations essentially turn into content studios, partnering with numerous influencers to promote their goods.

Leon Harlow said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention from conventional channels and they’re spending a lot more time on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are watching live TV or reading print.

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

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 gauge performance.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. In the US, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is projected to reach substantial figures in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Regardless of the massive shift, industry figures said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

The executive noted: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”