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As a product discovered more than 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the humble pot of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a TikTok talking point has thrust it into the lead of an advertising revolution, in which large companies are investing heavily in content creators and devoting less capital to advertising goods in legacy broadcasters.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Now, a flood of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “everyday tips”.

It has been touted as a fix for dirty sneakers or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for creaky hinges. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

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 letting the content creators in on the results.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were confirmed. This was also the case for ideas it could lengthen scent duration and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could bleach teeth or make eyelashes longer were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. Yet this viral episode has persuaded leaders to ramp up funding for content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to guide corporate planning has been labeled “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, newly named, has indicated the goal is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on digital creator content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

The company's social media lead, who is leading the online push, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. She said interacting online “without killing the party” was crucial.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and talking about what they used.

“The trend is shifting from a mass communication approach, where we would just send out ads … Now it’s many conversations, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these audiences appear specific, but they’re not.

“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 Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates profound shifts taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than legacy broadcast and print media.

The transition is visible in declines in traditional media advertising. In the UK, commercial funding for primary networks have fallen by more than £600m in real terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

Additionally, it points to a blurring of media roles as corporations essentially turn into content studios, collaborating with a multitude of digital creators to boost their products.

Leon Harlow 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 consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Many companies report to us people trust recommendations from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by targeting content creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is rising at quadruple the rate than the broader media sector. Stateside, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as networks still held the capability to shape the national conversation.

The executive noted: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”