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Originally found more than 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the simple jar of Vaseline could hardly be considered an natural focus for online content feeds.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an advertising revolution, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and reducing expenditure on marketing items in conventional outlets.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a derivative of drilling. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have recorded its extensive utilization in “life hacks”.

Promoted as a solution for polishing footwear or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for creaky hinges. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Capitalising on the Conversation

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by asking their own scientists to test them and sharing the findings with influencers.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sting of chili on the mouth were validated. So too were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were disproven.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. However, this online trend has led decision-makers to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to guide corporate planning has been labeled “social listening”. The company's chief executive, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on digital creator content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of connecting with customers. She said interacting online “without killing the party” was crucial.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? 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.

“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Today, it's numerous dialogues, many communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these audiences appear specific, yet they are vast.

“Having your brand advocated by users, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The strategy reflects seismic changes occurring in how media is consumed, with the youth demographic spending more time on digital networks than legacy broadcast and print media.

The shift is reflected in drops in traditional media advertising. In the UK, commercial funding for leading TV channels have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

This further signifies a merging of functions as brands effectively act as media producers, partnering with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences away from some legacy media and their time is increasingly on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“Numerous corporations inform us audiences believe endorsements from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. It's an ongoing shift.”

He said brands could also save money by investing in creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

The approach is growing. Advertising spending on digital creator partnerships 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.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Even with this transformation, industry figures said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as networks still held the capability to frame public debate.

Sykes said: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still events like 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.”