🔗 Share this article

As a product discovered over 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an natural focus for social media algorithms.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a TikTok talking point has thrust it into the lead of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and reducing expenditure on marketing items in conventional outlets.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers applying to their skin with a derivative of drilling. Currently, a wave of content from users have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

Promoted as a solution for polishing footwear or extending perfume longevity, as well as a fix for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to stop the scourge of snack dust adhering to hands.

Harnessing the Hype

Noticing its viral resurgence, marketers at Unilever boosted the tips by asking their own scientists to test them and providing creators with the outcome data.

Suggestions that it lessened the sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. So too were ideas it could extend fragrance and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could bleach teeth or extend lashes were refuted.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. However, this online trend has led decision-makers to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to inform business strategy has been termed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, newly named, has suggested it is aiming to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on social media content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

The company's social media lead, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of connecting with customers. She said engaging on social media “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and discussing household products.

“There’s this moving away from a broadcast model, where we would just broadcast out … Currently, it's countless discussions, various groups. The evolution of platform algorithms means that these audiences appear specific, yet they are vast.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by users, talked about by other people, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Content makers are key. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The strategy reflects seismic changes happening in audience habits, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The shift is reflected in drops in broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, ad revenues for primary networks have declined by over six hundred million pounds in actual value since the end of the last decade.

The Creator Economy Boom

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as large companies almost become production houses themselves, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to enhance their items.

Leon Harlow said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences away from some legacy media and they’re spending a lot more time on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Many companies report to us people trust recommendations from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. This is a persistent pattern.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by investing in creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

Such methods are increasing. Promotional expenditure on influencer marketing is increasing four times faster than the media industry overall. In the US, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Despite the huge changes, executives said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to frame public debate.

She added: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still major broadcast spectacles. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”