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First identified more than 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the simple jar of Vaseline might not appear as an natural focus for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a popular subject on TikTok has placed it at the forefront of an marketing transformation, where major corporations are spending big on content creators and reducing expenditure on promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Currently, a wave of user-generated videos have recorded its extensive utilization in “practical tricks”.

Promoted as a fix for dirty sneakers or prolonging the scent of perfume, as well as a fix for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to stop the scourge of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Spotting its digital renaissance, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and providing creators with the outcome data.

Suggestions that it lessened the sensation of spicy food on lips were confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and revive leather bags. Claims that it would whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were refuted.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. Yet this viral episode has persuaded leaders to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to guide corporate planning has been termed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Shifting to Modern Engagement

A leading Unilever executive, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of reaching consumers. She said interacting online “without killing the party” was paramount.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This remains our core objective as brands, since the era of community gossip and talking about what they used.

“The trend is shifting from a broadcast 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, however, they are large.

“Having your brand advocated by consumers, mentioned by individuals, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Content makers are key. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The approach indicates seismic changes happening in audience habits, with the youth demographic devoting greater hours to social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.

The transition is visible in declines in TV and print advertising. In the UK, ad revenues for leading TV channels have declined by over six hundred million pounds in real terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

Additionally, it points to a merging of functions as corporations essentially turn into content studios, linking up with numerous influencers to enhance their items.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences away from some legacy media and their time is increasingly on digital video and image apps than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“Many companies report to us people trust recommendations from the individuals they follow compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He said brands could also save money by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

This strategy is expanding. Advertising spending on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than the broader media sector. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain tens of billions in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as broadcasters retained the power to drive countrywide discourse.

She added: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still major broadcast spectacles. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”