‘Online Monitoring’: The Consumer Goods Giant Seeks to Capitalise On Vaseline’s TikTok Moment.

As a product discovered more than 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the simple jar of Vaseline could hardly be considered an clear candidate for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a viral TikTok topic has thrust it into the lead of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and putting fewer resources into promoting products in legacy broadcasters.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers rubbing their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have chronicled its broad application in “life hacks”.

Promoted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, along with a cure for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to prevent the annoyance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Leveraging the Buzz

Noticing its viral resurgence, executives at the multinational 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 sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. Similarly supported were ideas it could extend fragrance and revive leather bags. Proposals that it might whiten teeth or make eyelashes longer were disproven.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have dominated Unilever’s advertising drive. Yet this viral episode has helped convince executives to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This observation of social channels to guide corporate planning has been dubbed “social listening”. The company's chief executive, freshly instated, has stated the intention is to spend 50% of its massive marketing spend on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

Selina Sykes, who is heading the digital initiative, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of engaging audiences. She said interacting online “without dampening the fun” was crucial.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? This remains our core objective as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and sharing usage tips.

“We are witnessing a departure from a one-to-many model, where we would just broadcast out … Today, it's numerous dialogues, various groups. The shift of the algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, yet they are vast.

“Having your brand advocated by other people, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Influencers are vital for this. We’re really scaling this advocacy model.”

A Revolutionary Change in Media

The approach indicates seismic changes taking place in media consumption, with the youth demographic allocating more attention to digital networks than television, magazines or radio.

The shift is reflected in drops in TV and print advertising. Across Britain, commercial funding for major broadcasters have declined by over six hundred million pounds in actual value since the end of the last decade.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

Additionally, it points to a merging of functions as brands effectively act as media producers, partnering with numerous influencers to promote their goods.

An industry expert from a leading agency 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.

“Numerous corporations inform us audiences believe endorsements from the individuals they follow over traditional advertisements. It's an ongoing shift.”

He said brands could also save money by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is rising at quadruple the rate than the broader media sector. Stateside, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, executives said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

Sykes said: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still the Super Bowl. The issue isn't broadcasters claiming: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ It’s about who’s capturing attention … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”