‘Digital Eavesdropping’: Unilever Aims to Harness Vaseline’s Viral TikTok Trend.

Originally found over 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the humble pot of Vaseline might not appear as an clear candidate for online content feeds.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has thrust it into the lead of an marketing transformation, in which large companies are investing heavily in content creators and putting fewer resources into marketing items in conventional outlets.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

Originally produced in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who noticed oil rig workers rubbing their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “everyday tips”.

Promoted as a fix for dirty sneakers or prolonging the scent of perfume, along with a cure for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to stop the scourge of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever enhanced the tricks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and providing creators with the outcome data.

Suggestions that it lessened the sensation of spicy food on lips were validated. This was also the case for ideas it could lengthen scent duration and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could bleach teeth or extend lashes were refuted.

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 ramp up funding for content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been dubbed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, recently appointed, has stated the intention is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was simply adapting to new ways of connecting with customers. She said engaging on social media “without killing the party” was crucial.

“How do brands authentically become part of the conversation? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and talking about what they used.

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

“If you can make sure your brand is shared by users, 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 Seismic Media Shift

The strategy reflects 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.

This change is evidenced by falling revenues for broadcast and newspaper ads. Within the United Kingdom, commercial funding for leading TV channels have declined by over six hundred million pounds in actual value since the end of the last decade.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

Additionally, it points to a blurring of media roles as large companies almost become production houses themselves, partnering with hundreds of content creators to promote their goods.

A commercial director at a major talent agency said: “Obviously there’s a flow of audiences from conventional channels and they are dedicating far more hours to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“A lot of brands are telling us people trust recommendations from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. This is a persistent pattern.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by investing in creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also allows them to tweak their content more easily to test effectiveness.

Such methods are increasing. Advertising spending on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. Stateside, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is projected to reach multi-billion dollar sums in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Despite the huge changes, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role 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 the Super Bowl. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … I believe there is absolutely a role for them.”