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Originally found over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the simple jar of Vaseline may not seem like an clear candidate for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an promotional upheaval, where major corporations are spending big on content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

Originally produced in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or prolonging the scent of perfume, and also a remedy for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to stop the scourge of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Spotting its digital renaissance, strategists within the corporation enhanced the tricks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and sharing the findings with influencers.

Suggestions that it lessened the sting of chili on the mouth were given the thumbs up. Similarly supported were ideas it could extend fragrance and restore leather handbags. Proposals that it might bleach teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. However, this online trend has helped convince executives to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, recently appointed, has suggested it is aiming to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on platform-based material.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

A leading Unilever executive, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of engaging audiences. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? This remains our core objective as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and talking about what they used.

“There’s this moving away from a mass communication approach, where we would just broadcast out … Currently, it's countless discussions, various groups. The shift of the algorithms means that these communities feel niche, yet they are vast.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by users, recommended by peers, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

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

This change is evidenced by falling revenues for traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, commercial funding 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

This further signifies a blurring of media roles as brands effectively act as media producers, partnering with numerous influencers to boost their products.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences from conventional channels and they’re spending a lot more time 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. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to test effectiveness.

Such methods are increasing. Promotional expenditure on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit substantial figures in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Despite the huge changes, experts said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

The executive noted: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”