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Originally found more than 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an natural focus for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses spending big on content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Today, a spree of amateur-created clips have documented the product’s widespread use in “practical tricks”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, as well as a fix for creaky hinges. Its use has even extended to prevent the annoyance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Leveraging the Buzz

Spotting its digital renaissance, strategists within the corporation amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and letting the content creators in on the results.

Suggestions that it lessened the sting of chili on the mouth were given the thumbs up. So too were ideas it could extend fragrance and restore leather handbags. Claims that it would whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were debunked.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Billboards and TV ads would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. But the Vaseline phenomenon has persuaded leaders to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to inform business strategy has been termed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, recently appointed, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on social media content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

A leading Unilever executive, who is leading the online push, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. 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, since the era of community gossip and discussing household products.

“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Today, it's numerous dialogues, many communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, however, they are large.

“Having your brand advocated by other people, recommended by peers, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Influencers are vital for this. We are expanding this endorsement system.”

A Seismic Media Shift

This plan mirrors profound shifts taking place in media consumption, with younger consumers devoting greater hours to social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.

The shift is reflected in drops in traditional media advertising. In the UK, commercial funding for major broadcasters have declined by over six hundred million pounds in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

This further signifies a media convergence as brands effectively act as media producers, collaborating with a multitude of digital creators to boost their products.

Leon Harlow said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention away from some legacy media and their time is increasingly on digital video and image apps than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Many companies report to us audiences believe endorsements from the individuals they follow over traditional advertisements. That’s a consistent trend.”

He said brands could also save money by focusing on influencers over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to see what works.

This strategy is expanding. Advertising spending on digital creator partnerships is growing fourfold quicker than the media industry overall. Stateside, it has more than doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as broadcasters retained the power to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still major broadcast spectacles. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”