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Originally found over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the humble pot of Vaseline may not seem like an obvious target for digital platform algorithms.

However, its rise as a popular subject on TikTok has thrust it into the lead of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers 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 solution for polishing footwear or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for squeaky doors. Its use has even extended to prevent the annoyance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

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 sharing the findings with influencers.

Suggestions that it lessened the sting of chili on the mouth were given the thumbs up. Similarly supported were ideas it could extend fragrance and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could brighten smiles or lengthen eyelashes were refuted.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. However, this online trend has persuaded leaders to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, recently appointed, has indicated the goal is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

A leading Unilever executive, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of engaging audiences. She said engaging on social media “without dampening the fun” was crucial.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? This remains our core objective as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and sharing usage tips.

“There’s this moving away from a mass communication approach, where we would just transmit messages … Now it’s many conversations, various groups. Changes in digital feeds means that these audiences appear specific, but they’re not.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by consumers, talked about by other people, this builds credibility and connection. Content makers are key. We are expanding this endorsement system.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

This plan mirrors profound shifts taking place in media consumption, with younger consumers allocating more attention to digital networks than legacy broadcast and print media.

The transition is visible in declines in traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, ad revenues for primary networks have dropped substantially in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

Additionally, it points to a blurring of media roles as brands effectively act as media producers, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to enhance their items.

Leon Harlow said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention away from some legacy media and they’re spending a lot more time on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“A lot of brands are telling us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. This is a persistent pattern.”

He said brands could also save money by targeting content creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on digital creator partnerships is growing fourfold quicker than the media industry overall. Across the United States, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit tens of billions in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as networks still held the capability to frame public debate.

She added: “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 believe there is absolutely a role for them.”