‘Digital Eavesdropping’: The Consumer Goods Giant Looks to Exploit Vaseline’s Social Media Breakthrough.

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

Nonetheless, its ascent 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 reducing expenditure on advertising goods in conventional outlets.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

First created commercially in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers rubbing their skin with a derivative of drilling. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

Promoted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or prolonging the scent of perfume, as well as a fix for squeaky doors. Its use has even extended to prevent the annoyance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Leveraging the Buzz

Detecting the product’s new life online, executives at the multinational amplified the hacks by asking their own scientists to test them and sharing the findings with influencers.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sensation of spicy food on lips were given the thumbs up. This was also the case for ideas it could lengthen scent duration and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were refuted.

The ‘Digital Ear’ Approach

Billboards and TV ads would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. But the Vaseline phenomenon has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to guide corporate planning has been dubbed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming 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 engaging on social media “without killing the party” was paramount.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This remains our core objective as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and discussing household products.

“We are witnessing a departure 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 groups seem specialized, but they’re not.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by other people, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The strategy reflects seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with younger consumers devoting greater hours to apps like TikTok and Instagram than legacy broadcast and print media.

This change is evidenced by falling revenues for traditional media advertising. Across Britain, commercial funding for primary networks have dropped substantially in real terms since 2019.

The Creator Economy Boom

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as large companies almost become production houses themselves, collaborating with hundreds of content creators to enhance their items.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers away from some legacy media and their time is increasingly on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube 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 said brands could also save money by focusing on influencers over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to test effectiveness.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than the media industry overall. Stateside, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is projected to reach tens of billions in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as broadcasters retained the power to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”