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Originally found more than 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the modest tin of Vaseline could hardly be considered an obvious target for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a viral TikTok topic 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 conventional outlets.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers applying to their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Currently, a wave of content from users have recorded its extensive utilization in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a solution for polishing footwear or prolonging the scent of perfume, and also a remedy for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Spotting its digital renaissance, strategists within the corporation boosted the tips by asking their own scientists to test them and providing creators with the outcome data.

Assertions that it diminished the sensation of spicy food on lips were given the thumbs up. This was also the case for ideas it could extend fragrance and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Outdoor advertising and television commercials would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. Yet this viral episode has persuaded leaders to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, newly named, has stated the intention is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on digital creator content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

The company's social media lead, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of reaching consumers. She said interacting online “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? This remains our core objective as brands, since the era of community gossip and talking about what they used.

“We are witnessing a departure from a mass communication approach, where we would just broadcast out … Now it’s many conversations, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these audiences appear specific, but they’re not.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by users, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates dramatic transformations taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than traditional TV, print, or radio.

This change is evidenced by falling revenues for broadcast and newspaper ads. In the UK, advertising income for primary networks have dropped substantially in actual value since the end of the last decade.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

This further signifies a merging of functions as corporations essentially turn into content studios, partnering with hundreds of content creators to promote their goods.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention away from some legacy media and they are dedicating far more hours to digital video and image apps than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“Numerous corporations inform us people trust recommendations from the creators they engage with over traditional advertisements. 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 gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is rising at quadruple the rate than the broader media sector. In the US, 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 networks still held the capability to frame public debate.

She added: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still major broadcast spectacles. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”