‘Digital Eavesdropping’: Unilever Looks to Exploit Vaseline’s TikTok Moment.

As a product discovered over 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the humble pot of Vaseline could hardly be considered an natural focus for digital platform algorithms.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, in which large companies are allocating substantial funds to content creators and putting fewer resources into marketing items in legacy broadcasters.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

Originally produced in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers using on their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Currently, a wave of user-generated videos have chronicled its broad application in “everyday tips”.

Hailed as a remedy for cleaning shoes or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for creaky hinges. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Noticing its viral resurgence, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and sharing the findings with influencers.

Suggestions that it lessened the burn from hot food on the lips were given the thumbs up. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Proposals that it might brighten smiles or extend lashes were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Billboards and TV ads would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. But the Vaseline phenomenon has persuaded leaders to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This observation of social channels to guide corporate planning has been dubbed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

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 spoiling the atmosphere” was paramount.

“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 discussing household products.

“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just broadcast out … Currently, it's countless discussions, diverse communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, but they’re not.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by consumers, recommended by peers, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Content makers are key. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The approach indicates profound shifts happening in audience habits, with Gen Z and millennial audiences devoting greater hours to social media platforms than legacy broadcast and print media.

The shift is reflected in declines in traditional media advertising. Across Britain, commercial funding for primary networks have dropped substantially in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as brands effectively act as media producers, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“A lot of brands are telling us people trust recommendations from the individuals they follow over traditional advertisements. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is increasing four times faster than the broader media sector. Across the United States, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain tens of billions in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Regardless of the massive shift, industry figures said they believed television commercials still played a key part to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to drive countrywide discourse.

The executive noted: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”