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First identified over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the humble pot of Vaseline could hardly be considered an clear candidate for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a TikTok talking point has positioned it at the vanguard of an advertising revolution, in which large companies are investing heavily in content creators and reducing expenditure on promoting products in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers using on their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Currently, a wave of content from users have recorded its extensive utilization in “life hacks”.

Hailed as a solution for polishing footwear or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for noisy doorways. Its use has even extended to combat the nuisance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever boosted the tips by asking their own scientists to test them and letting the content creators in on the results.

Suggestions that it lessened the sting of chili on the mouth were confirmed. So too were ideas it could extend fragrance and revive leather bags. Proposals that it might bleach teeth or make eyelashes longer were debunked.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. But the Vaseline phenomenon has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, recently appointed, has indicated the goal is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on digital creator content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

A leading Unilever executive, who is leading the online push, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of connecting with customers. She said engaging on social media “without spoiling the atmosphere” was essential.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, since the era of community gossip and talking about what they used.

“We are witnessing a departure from a one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Today, it's numerous dialogues, various groups. Changes in digital feeds means that these audiences appear specific, yet they are vast.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by other people, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Content makers are key. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The strategy reflects dramatic transformations happening in audience habits, with the youth demographic allocating more attention to apps like TikTok and Instagram than television, magazines or radio.

The shift is reflected in falling revenues for TV and print advertising. Within the United Kingdom, advertising income for primary networks have dropped substantially in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

Additionally, it points to a merging of functions as corporations essentially turn into content studios, collaborating with a multitude of digital creators to enhance their items.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on digital video and image apps than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Many companies report to us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. It's an ongoing shift.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to test effectiveness.

This strategy is expanding. Marketing investment on the creator economy is rising at quadruple the rate than the media industry overall. Stateside, it has over doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit tens of billions in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Despite the huge changes, executives said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as broadcasters retained the power to shape the national conversation.

The executive noted: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still events like the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”