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As a product discovered more than 150 years ago in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, the simple jar of Vaseline may not seem like an natural focus for social media algorithms.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has thrust it into the lead of an marketing transformation, where major corporations are allocating substantial funds to content creators and putting fewer resources into promoting products in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers rubbing their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Currently, a wave of amateur-created clips have chronicled its broad application in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, and also a remedy for noisy doorways. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Capitalising on the Conversation

Noticing its viral resurgence, executives at the multinational amplified the hacks by asking their own scientists to test them and letting the content creators in on the results.

Suggestions that it lessened the burn from hot food on the lips were given the thumbs up. This was also the case for ideas it could extend fragrance and rejuvenate purses. Suggestions it could whiten teeth or extend lashes were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Outdoor advertising and television commercials would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. But the Vaseline phenomenon has helped convince executives to ramp up funding for content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to inform business strategy has been dubbed “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, newly named, has indicated the goal is to spend a full fifty percent of its huge ad budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

The company's social media lead, who is spearheading the social media effort, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of reaching consumers. She said engaging on social media “without dampening the fun” was paramount.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, back to when people were hanging out their laundry and sharing usage tips.

“There’s this moving away from a broadcast model, where we would just transmit messages … Now it’s many conversations, many communities. The shift of the algorithms means that these communities feel niche, but they’re not.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by users, talked about by other people, that fosters reliability and pertinence. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The strategy reflects dramatic transformations taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences devoting greater hours to digital networks than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The transition is visible in falling revenues for TV and print advertising. Across Britain, ad revenues for primary networks have declined by over six hundred million pounds in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

Additionally, it points to a blurring of media roles as corporations essentially turn into content studios, collaborating with numerous influencers to boost their products.

Leon Harlow said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers 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.

“Many companies report to us people trust recommendations from the individuals they follow over traditional advertisements. That’s a consistent trend.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by targeting content creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to gauge performance.

This strategy is expanding. Promotional expenditure on the creator economy is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. Across the United States, it has increased by over 100% since 2021 and is expected to hit substantial figures in 2025.

TV's Lasting Role

Even with this transformation, experts said they believed broadcast ads retained significant importance to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to shape the national conversation.

The executive noted: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still major broadcast spectacles. It’s not about those broadcasters saying: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”