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First identified more than 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an clear candidate for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a popular subject on TikTok has thrust it into the lead of an advertising revolution, where major corporations are investing heavily in content creators and reducing expenditure on marketing items in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers applying to their skin with a derivative of drilling. Today, a spree of amateur-created clips have documented the product’s widespread use in “practical tricks”.

Promoted as a solution for polishing footwear or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Capitalising on the Conversation

Spotting its digital renaissance, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by asking their own scientists to test them and letting the content creators in on the results.

Suggestions that it lessened the burn from hot food on the lips were confirmed. This was also the case for ideas it could lengthen scent duration and rejuvenate purses. Claims that it would whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. But the Vaseline phenomenon has persuaded leaders to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This observation of social channels to inform business strategy has been dubbed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, freshly instated, has stated the intention is to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on social media content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

The company's social media lead, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of connecting with customers. She said interacting online “without dampening the fun” was paramount.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? 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 broadcast model, where we would just broadcast out … Today, it's numerous dialogues, diverse communities. The evolution of platform algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, however, they are large.

“Having your brand advocated by users, talked about by other people, this builds credibility and connection. Content makers are key. We are expanding this endorsement system.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The strategy reflects dramatic transformations occurring in how media is consumed, with younger consumers devoting greater hours to digital networks than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The transition is visible in falling revenues for broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, commercial funding for leading TV channels have declined by over six hundred million pounds in real terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as brands effectively act as media producers, linking up with hundreds of content creators to boost their products.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on digital video and image apps than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“A lot of brands are telling us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. 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 see what works.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on digital creator partnerships is rising at quadruple the rate than total media spending. Across the United States, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is projected to reach multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Despite the huge changes, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

She added: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still events like the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”