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As a product discovered over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the simple jar of Vaseline could hardly be considered an clear candidate for digital platform algorithms.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an promotional upheaval, in which large companies are investing heavily in content creators and reducing expenditure on promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

First created commercially in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers rubbing their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have recorded its extensive utilization in “practical tricks”.

Hailed as a fix for dirty sneakers or extending perfume longevity, as well as a fix for squeaky doors. Users have even applied it to prevent the annoyance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Capitalising on the Conversation

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.

Assertions that it diminished the sting of chili on the mouth were confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could bleach teeth or extend lashes were debunked.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Outdoor advertising and television commercials would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. However, this online trend has persuaded leaders to ramp up funding for content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to inform business strategy has been termed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

A leading Unilever executive, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of reaching consumers. She said interacting online “without spoiling the atmosphere” was paramount.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and discussing household products.

“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Currently, it's countless discussions, diverse 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 is how you can build trust and relevance. Creators are critical to that. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

This plan mirrors profound shifts 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 falling revenues for broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, ad revenues for major broadcasters have dropped substantially in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

Additionally, it points to a media convergence as brands effectively act as media producers, collaborating with a multitude of digital creators to enhance their items.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers away from some legacy media and their time is increasingly on digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform 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 targeting content creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is increasing four times faster than total media spending. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit tens of billions in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Even with this transformation, executives said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to drive countrywide discourse.

She added: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”