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Originally found more than 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the humble pot of Vaseline might not appear as an clear candidate for social media algorithms.

However, its rise as a popular subject on TikTok has placed it at the forefront of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and reducing expenditure on advertising goods in conventional outlets.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers rubbing their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, a spree of content from users have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

Hailed as a fix for dirty sneakers or extending perfume longevity, as well as a fix for creaky hinges. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Leveraging the Buzz

Spotting its digital renaissance, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and providing creators with the outcome data.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. So too were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Proposals that it might brighten smiles or extend lashes were refuted.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. But the Vaseline phenomenon has helped convince executives to ramp up funding for content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Shifting to Modern Engagement

The company's social media lead, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of reaching consumers. She said engaging on social media “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, since the era of community gossip and talking about what they used.

“There’s this moving away from a mass communication approach, where we would just transmit messages … Now it’s many conversations, diverse communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, yet they are vast.

“Having your brand advocated by other people, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Content makers are key. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates profound shifts happening in audience habits, with the youth demographic spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than television, magazines or radio.

The shift is reflected in drops in TV and print advertising. In the UK, commercial funding for primary networks have dropped substantially in actual value since the end of the last decade.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

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

Leon Harlow said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

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

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

The approach is growing. Advertising spending on the creator economy is rising at quadruple the rate than the media industry overall. Across the United States, it has over doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit tens of billions in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Regardless of the massive shift, industry figures said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still major broadcast spectacles. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”