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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 obvious target for social media algorithms.

Nonetheless, its ascent as a viral TikTok topic has thrust it into the lead of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses allocating substantial funds to content creators and putting fewer resources into promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

Originally produced in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers rubbing their skin with a derivative of drilling. Today, a spree of content from users have recorded its extensive utilization in “everyday tips”.

Promoted as a fix for dirty sneakers or making fragrance last longer, along with a cure for squeaky doors. Users have even applied it to prevent the annoyance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Noticing its viral resurgence, strategists within the corporation amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and sharing the findings with influencers.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were given the thumbs up. So too were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and revive leather bags. Suggestions it could bleach teeth or lengthen eyelashes were disproven.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. However, this online trend has persuaded leaders to ramp up funding for content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on platform-based material.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is leading the online push, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. She said participating on platforms “without dampening the fun” 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 one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Today, it's numerous dialogues, various groups. The shift of the algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, but they’re not.

“Having your brand advocated by consumers, recommended by peers, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

This plan mirrors dramatic transformations taking place in media consumption, with the youth demographic spending more time on social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.

The transition is visible in drops in broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, advertising income for primary networks have dropped substantially in actual value since the end of the last decade.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as brands effectively act as media producers, partnering with numerous influencers to enhance their items.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and they are dedicating far more hours to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“A lot of brands are telling us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. It's an ongoing shift.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by targeting content creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to test effectiveness.

This strategy is expanding. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is increasing four times faster than total media spending. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit substantial figures in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Despite the huge changes, industry figures said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as broadcasters retained the power to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still major broadcast spectacles. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”