🔗 Share this article

Originally found more than 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline may not seem like an natural focus for digital platform algorithms.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a TikTok talking point has placed it at the forefront of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and reducing expenditure on promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

First created commercially in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Currently, a wave of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “everyday tips”.

It has been touted as a fix for dirty sneakers or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for squeaky doors. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Spotting its digital renaissance, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and letting the content creators in on the results.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sting of chili on the mouth were validated. This was also the case for ideas it could extend fragrance and rejuvenate purses. Proposals that it might brighten smiles or make eyelashes longer were debunked.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Billboards and TV ads would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. But the Vaseline phenomenon has helped convince executives to ramp up funding for content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to inform business strategy has been termed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, newly named, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on digital creator content.

Shifting to Modern Engagement

Selina Sykes, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of reaching consumers. She said engaging on social media “without spoiling the atmosphere” was paramount.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? This remains our core objective as brands, since the era of community gossip 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, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these communities feel niche, yet they are vast.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by other people, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. We are expanding this endorsement system.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The approach indicates dramatic transformations happening in audience habits, with Gen Z and millennial audiences allocating more attention to social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.

This change is evidenced by declines in traditional media advertising. In the UK, ad revenues for major broadcasters have declined by over six hundred million pounds in actual value since the end of the last decade.

The Creator Economy Boom

It also reflects a merging of functions as large companies almost become production houses themselves, collaborating with numerous influencers to promote their goods.

Leon Harlow said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and they are dedicating far more hours to social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“A lot of brands are telling us audiences believe endorsements from the individuals they follow over traditional advertisements. This is a persistent pattern.”

He said brands could also save money by targeting content creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

Such methods are increasing. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than the broader media sector. Stateside, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Despite the huge changes, executives said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as networks still held the capability to frame public debate.

She added: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”