🔗 Share this article

As a product discovered more than 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the modest tin of Vaseline may not seem like an clear candidate for social media algorithms.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a viral TikTok topic has placed it at the forefront of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and reducing expenditure on promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

Originally produced in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have recorded its extensive utilization in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for noisy doorways. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, executives at the multinational amplified the hacks by asking their own scientists to test them and letting the content creators in on the results.

Assertions that it diminished the sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. This was also the case for ideas it could prolong perfume and revive leather bags. Proposals that it might brighten smiles or make eyelashes longer were disproven.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. But the Vaseline phenomenon has persuaded leaders 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 stated the intention is to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on digital creator content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of connecting with customers. She said engaging on social media “without dampening the fun” was crucial.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and sharing usage tips.

“The trend is shifting from a one-to-many model, where we would just send out ads … Today, it's numerous dialogues, various groups. The evolution of platform algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, yet they are vast.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with younger consumers allocating more attention to digital networks than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The shift is reflected in drops in broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, ad revenues for primary networks have dropped substantially in actual value since the end of the last decade.

The Creator Economy Boom

This further signifies a media convergence as brands effectively act as media producers, collaborating with hundreds of content creators to boost their products.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention away from some legacy media and they are dedicating far more hours to social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Numerous corporations inform us people trust recommendations from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. It's an ongoing shift.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by targeting content creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on digital creator partnerships is rising at quadruple the rate than the media industry overall. In the US, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, industry figures said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance 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 major broadcast spectacles. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”