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First identified more than 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the humble pot of Vaseline might not appear as an natural focus for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has thrust it into the lead of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and devoting less capital to marketing items in conventional outlets.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

Originally produced in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers applying to their skin with a derivative of drilling. Currently, a wave of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “practical tricks”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or extending perfume longevity, along with a cure for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Detecting the product’s new life online, strategists within the corporation enhanced the tricks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and providing creators with the outcome data.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the burn from hot food on the lips were given the thumbs up. So too were ideas it could extend fragrance and revive leather bags. Proposals that it might brighten smiles or lengthen eyelashes were disproven.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. Yet this viral episode has persuaded leaders to ramp up funding for content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, newly named, has suggested it is aiming to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on social media content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of engaging audiences. She said participating on platforms “without spoiling the atmosphere” was essential.

“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 sharing usage tips.

“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 groups seem specialized, however, they are large.

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by consumers, 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.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

The strategy reflects profound shifts happening in audience habits, with the youth demographic spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The transition is visible in declines in broadcast and newspaper ads. In the UK, ad revenues for major broadcasters have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

Additionally, it points to a media convergence as corporations essentially turn into content studios, linking up with a multitude of digital creators to boost their products.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences away from some legacy media and they’re spending a lot more time on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are watching live TV or reading print.

“Numerous corporations inform us audiences believe endorsements from the personalities they subscribe to more than they trust ads. This is a persistent pattern.”

He said brands could also save money by targeting content creators over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to gauge performance.

Such methods are increasing. Advertising spending on influencer marketing is rising at quadruple the rate than total media spending. In the US, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is forecast to attain multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

The Enduring Power of Broadcast

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as networks still held the capability to frame public debate.

She added: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still events like the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”