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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 clear candidate for online content feeds.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a popular subject on TikTok has placed it at the forefront of an advertising revolution, in which large companies are allocating substantial funds to content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in conventional outlets.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers using on their skin with a derivative of drilling. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “everyday tips”.

Hailed as a solution for polishing footwear or making fragrance last longer, as well as a fix for creaky hinges. Its use has even extended to stop the scourge of snack dust adhering to hands.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and sharing the findings with influencers.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the burn from hot food on the lips were confirmed. This was also the case for ideas it could prolong perfume and rejuvenate purses. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or make eyelashes longer were disproven.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. However, this online trend has led decision-makers to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, recently appointed, has indicated the goal is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on social media content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

A leading Unilever executive, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of engaging audiences. She said engaging on social media “without spoiling the atmosphere” 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 one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Currently, it's countless discussions, various groups. Changes in digital feeds means that these groups seem specialized, yet they are vast.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by consumers, 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

This plan mirrors dramatic transformations taking place in media consumption, with the youth demographic devoting greater hours to digital networks than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The shift is reflected in declines in traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, ad revenues for primary networks have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as large companies almost become production houses themselves, linking up with numerous influencers to boost their products.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention out of certain traditional media outlets and they are dedicating far more hours to digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform us audiences believe endorsements from the creators they engage with more than they trust ads. That’s a consistent trend.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by targeting content creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to see what works.

Such methods are increasing. Advertising spending on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. Across the United States, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as broadcasters retained the power to shape the national conversation.

The executive noted: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”