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Originally found more than 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an clear candidate for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has placed it at the forefront of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and devoting less capital to marketing items in conventional outlets.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers rubbing their skin with a derivative of drilling. Currently, a wave of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or extending perfume longevity, as well as a fix for squeaky doors. Its use has even extended to stop the scourge of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Spotting its digital renaissance, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and sharing the findings with influencers.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could extend fragrance and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could brighten smiles or make eyelashes longer were refuted.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. Yet this viral episode has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to inform business strategy has been dubbed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, newly named, has suggested it is aiming to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on social media content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

The company's social media lead, who is leading the online push, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of reaching consumers. She said participating on platforms “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and sharing usage tips.

“We are witnessing a departure from a mass communication approach, where we would just broadcast out … Currently, it's countless discussions, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these communities feel niche, however, they are large.

“Having your brand advocated by consumers, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Influencers are vital for this. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The approach indicates seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences allocating more attention to digital networks than television, magazines or radio.

The transition is visible in declines in broadcast and newspaper ads. Within the United Kingdom, advertising income for primary networks have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

This further signifies a merging of functions as large companies almost become production houses themselves, collaborating with a multitude of digital creators to enhance their items.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and they are dedicating far more hours to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Many companies report to us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the personalities they subscribe to more than they trust ads. This is a persistent pattern.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by focusing on influencers over big traditional media campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to see what works.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. Stateside, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is projected to reach substantial figures in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Regardless of the massive shift, experts said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as networks still held the capability to drive countrywide discourse.

The executive noted: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”