First identified over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the modest tin of Vaseline may not seem like an natural focus for online content feeds.
However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and putting fewer resources into promoting products in conventional outlets.
First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers applying to their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have recorded its extensive utilization in “practical tricks”.
Promoted as a solution for polishing footwear or prolonging the scent of perfume, as well as a fix for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.
Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and letting the content creators in on the results.
Claims that Vaseline reduced the sting of chili on the mouth were confirmed. So too were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and revive leather bags. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were refuted.
Print ads and broadcast spots would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. Yet this viral episode has persuaded leaders to ramp up funding for content creators.
This tracking of digital spaces to inform business strategy has been termed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on digital creator content.
Selina Sykes, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of connecting with customers. She said interacting online “without spoiling the atmosphere” was paramount.
“What is the key to genuine brand integration? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, since the era of community gossip and discussing household products.
“There’s this moving away from a broadcast model, where we would just broadcast out … Now it’s many conversations, diverse communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, however, they are large.
“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, mentioned by individuals, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. We are expanding this endorsement system.”
The approach indicates profound shifts happening in audience habits, with the youth demographic allocating more attention to social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.
This change is evidenced by drops in 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.
It also reflects a merging of functions as brands effectively act as media producers, partnering with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.
A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.
“Numerous corporations inform us audiences believe endorsements from the individuals they follow more than they trust ads. It's an ongoing shift.”
He said brands could also save money by targeting content creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.
This strategy is expanding. Marketing investment on the creator economy is increasing four times faster than total media spending. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.
Regardless of the massive shift, executives said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as broadcasters retained the power to drive countrywide discourse.
She added: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”
A travel enthusiast and writer based in London, sharing cultural insights and personal adventures from across the UK and beyond.
