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As a product discovered more than 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the simple jar of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for digital platform algorithms.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a TikTok talking point 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 traditional media.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers using on their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, a spree of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “practical tricks”.

It has been touted as a fix for dirty sneakers or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for creaky hinges. Its use has even extended to stop the scourge of snack dust adhering to hands.

Leveraging the Buzz

Spotting its digital renaissance, executives at the multinational boosted the tips by having their research teams evaluate the claims and letting the content creators in on the results.

Suggestions that it lessened the sensation of spicy food on lips were confirmed. So too were ideas it could prolong perfume and rejuvenate purses. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or extend lashes were debunked.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. However, this online trend has helped convince executives to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to guide corporate planning has been dubbed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, 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 just evolving with contemporary approaches of engaging audiences. She said interacting online “without killing the party” was paramount.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? 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 send out ads … Now it’s many conversations, diverse communities. The evolution of platform algorithms means that these audiences appear specific, however, they are large.

“Having your brand advocated by other people, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Seismic Media Shift

This plan mirrors seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with the youth demographic devoting greater hours to digital networks than television, magazines or radio.

The transition is visible in falling revenues for traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, advertising income for leading TV channels have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

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 promote their goods.

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 viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“A lot of brands are telling us audiences believe endorsements from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. That’s a consistent trend.”

He said brands could also save money by targeting content creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to see what works.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on digital creator partnerships is growing fourfold quicker than the media industry overall. Stateside, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is projected to reach substantial figures in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

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

Sykes said: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”