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.
Nonetheless, its ascent as a viral TikTok topic has thrust it into the lead of an promotional upheaval, in which large companies are spending big on content creators and reducing expenditure on marketing items in traditional media.
Originally produced in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers using on their skin with a derivative of drilling. Currently, a wave of amateur-created clips have recorded its extensive utilization in “everyday tips”.
Promoted as a fix for dirty sneakers or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for noisy doorways. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.
Noticing its viral resurgence, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and sharing the findings with influencers.
Suggestions that it lessened the sensation of spicy food on lips were given the thumbs up. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and revive leather bags. Claims that it would bleach teeth or make eyelashes longer were refuted.
Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. Yet this viral episode has helped convince executives to dramatically increase investment in content creators.
This observation of social channels to guide corporate planning has been termed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, freshly instated, has stated the intention is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on social media content.
The company's social media lead, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of engaging audiences. She said interacting online “without dampening the fun” was crucial.
“How can companies join discussions credibly? This remains our core objective as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and sharing usage tips.
“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Currently, it's countless discussions, diverse communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, but they’re not.
“If you can make sure your brand is shared by other people, talked about by other people, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Creators are critical to that. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”
This plan mirrors profound shifts taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.
This change is evidenced by drops in traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, advertising income for primary networks have fallen by more than £600m in real terms since 2019.
This further signifies a merging of functions as brands effectively act as media producers, collaborating with hundreds of content 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’re spending a lot more time on digital video and image apps than they are watching live TV or reading print.
“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. It's an ongoing shift.”
He noted companies can reduce costs by focusing on influencers over big traditional media campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to gauge performance.
This strategy is expanding. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is increasing four times faster than the broader media sector. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is projected to reach multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.
Despite the huge changes, experts said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as broadcasters retained the power to drive countrywide discourse.
Sykes said: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still events like the Super Bowl. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”
Astrophysicist and science communicator passionate about making complex space concepts accessible to everyone.
News