🔗 Share this article

First identified more than 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the humble pot of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a TikTok talking point has placed it at the forefront of an advertising revolution, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and putting fewer resources into marketing items in traditional media.

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 derivative of drilling. Today, a spree of content from users have recorded its extensive utilization in “practical tricks”.

Promoted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to stop the scourge of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, executives at the multinational boosted the tips by tasking their in-house experts with verification and sharing the findings with influencers.

Suggestions that it lessened the burn from hot food on the lips were given the thumbs up. Similarly supported were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and rejuvenate purses. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or extend lashes were refuted.

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 observation of social channels to inform business strategy has been dubbed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, recently appointed, has indicated the goal is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on platform-based material.

Shifting to Modern Engagement

A leading Unilever executive, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of reaching consumers. She said participating on platforms “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and talking about what they used.

“There’s this moving away from a mass communication approach, where we would just broadcast out … Now it’s many conversations, various groups. The shift of the algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, however, they are large.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by consumers, mentioned by individuals, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates profound shifts taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences allocating more attention to apps like TikTok and Instagram than legacy broadcast and print media.

The transition is visible in drops in traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, advertising income for major broadcasters have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

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

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers away from some legacy media and their time is increasingly on digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Many companies report to us audiences believe endorsements from the personalities they subscribe to more than they trust ads. This is a persistent pattern.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by targeting content creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to test effectiveness.

Such methods are increasing. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. Across the United States, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Despite the huge changes, industry figures said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to frame public debate.

The executive noted: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”