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First identified more than 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the humble pot of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an advertising revolution, seeing big businesses allocating substantial funds to content creators and reducing expenditure on advertising goods in traditional media.

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. Now, a flood of amateur-created clips have chronicled its broad application in “everyday tips”.

It has been touted as a solution for polishing footwear or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for squeaky doors. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Spotting its digital renaissance, executives at the multinational amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and sharing the findings with influencers.

Suggestions that it lessened the sting of chili on the mouth were confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could extend fragrance and revive leather bags. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. Yet this viral episode has persuaded leaders to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, newly named, has suggested it is aiming to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on digital creator content.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

The company's social media lead, who is leading the online push, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of reaching consumers. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was paramount.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? That’s always what we’ve been trying to do as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and talking about what they used.

“We are witnessing a departure from a mass communication approach, where we would just transmit messages … Now it’s many conversations, many communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, yet they are vast.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by users, talked about by other people, this builds credibility and connection. Influencers are vital for this. We are expanding this endorsement system.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

This plan mirrors seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with the youth demographic spending more time on digital networks than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The transition is visible in falling revenues for traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, commercial funding for primary networks have declined by over six hundred million pounds in real terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

Additionally, it points to a blurring of media roles as large companies almost become production houses themselves, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to boost their products.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers away from some legacy media and they are dedicating far more hours to digital video and image apps than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“Many companies report to us people trust recommendations from the personalities they subscribe to over traditional advertisements. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by investing in creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to see what works.

The approach is growing. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than the media industry overall. In the US, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain tens of billions in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to drive countrywide discourse.

She added: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still major broadcast spectacles. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”