🔗 Share this article

First identified more than 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an natural focus for online content feeds.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a TikTok talking point has thrust it into the lead of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses allocating substantial funds to content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

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

Promoted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and providing creators with the outcome data.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. So too were ideas it could prolong perfume and rejuvenate purses. Claims that it would brighten smiles or extend lashes were refuted.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. But the Vaseline phenomenon has persuaded leaders to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to inform business strategy has been termed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, recently appointed, has indicated the goal is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

A leading Unilever executive, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of connecting with customers. She said participating on platforms “without spoiling the atmosphere” was crucial.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This has perpetually been our aim 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 send out ads … Currently, it's countless discussions, diverse communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these groups seem specialized, yet they are vast.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, mentioned by individuals, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Influencers are vital for this. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Seismic Media Shift

This plan mirrors dramatic transformations occurring in how media is consumed, with the youth demographic allocating more attention to digital networks than legacy broadcast and print media.

This change is evidenced by falling revenues for TV and print advertising. In the UK, ad revenues for leading TV channels have dropped substantially in real terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

This further signifies a merging of functions as corporations essentially turn into content studios, linking up with numerous influencers to enhance their items.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on digital video and image apps than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the individuals they follow over traditional advertisements. This is a persistent pattern.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by targeting content creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Promotional expenditure on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than the broader media sector. Stateside, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is forecast to attain multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, executives said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as broadcasters retained the power to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still events like the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”