‘Online Monitoring’: The Consumer Goods Giant Aims to Harness Vaseline’s TikTok Moment.

Originally found over 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a popular subject on TikTok has positioned it at the vanguard of an marketing transformation, in which large companies are spending big on content creators and devoting less capital to promoting products in traditional media.

A Journey from Drilling to Digital

First created commercially in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers rubbing their skin with a derivative of drilling. Currently, a wave of content from users have chronicled its broad application in “everyday tips”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or extending perfume longevity, and also a remedy for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Noticing its viral resurgence, strategists within the corporation enhanced the tricks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and letting the content creators in on the results.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the sting of chili on the mouth were given the thumbs up. So too were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and restore leather handbags. Claims that it would whiten teeth or make eyelashes longer were refuted.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Billboards and TV ads would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. However, this online trend has helped convince executives to dramatically increase investment in content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to guide corporate planning has been dubbed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on platform-based material.

Shifting to Modern Engagement

The company's social media lead, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of reaching consumers. She said participating on platforms “without dampening the fun” was essential.

“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 broadcast model, where we would just send out ads … Currently, it's countless discussions, various groups. The shift of the algorithms 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 fosters reliability and pertinence. Creators are critical to that. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The approach indicates seismic changes occurring in how media is consumed, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than legacy broadcast and print media.

This change is evidenced by drops in broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, ad revenues for major broadcasters have declined by over six hundred million pounds in actual value since the end of the last decade.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

It also reflects a merging of functions as large companies almost become production houses themselves, collaborating with hundreds of content creators to promote their goods.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention 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.

“A lot of brands are telling us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. This is a persistent pattern.”

He said brands could also save money by focusing on influencers over big traditional media campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is rising at quadruple the rate than the broader media sector. In the US, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, executives said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

She added: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still events like the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”