‘Social Listening’: Unilever Seeks to Capitalise On Vaseline’s TikTok Moment.

Originally found over 150 years ago on a Pennsylvania oilfield, the modest tin of Vaseline could hardly be considered an clear candidate for online content feeds.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a popular subject on TikTok has positioned it at the vanguard of an advertising revolution, in which large companies are allocating substantial funds to content creators and reducing expenditure on promoting products in traditional media.

The Path from Petroleum to Platforms

First created commercially in the 1870s by chemist Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers using on their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “practical tricks”.

Promoted as a solution for polishing footwear or making fragrance last longer, along with a cure for creaky hinges. It has even been deployed to combat the nuisance of chip seasoning clinging to fingers.

Leveraging the Buzz

Spotting its digital renaissance, executives at the multinational enhanced the tricks by tasking their in-house experts with verification and letting the content creators in on the results.

Assertions that it diminished the sting of chili on the mouth were confirmed. So too were ideas it could prolong perfume and restore leather handbags. Suggestions it could brighten smiles or make eyelashes longer were debunked.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. However, this online trend has persuaded leaders to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This tracking of digital spaces to inform business strategy has been labeled “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on digital creator content.

Evolving With Audience Behavior

Selina Sykes, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of reaching consumers. She said participating on platforms “without killing the party” was essential.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This has perpetually been our aim as brands, since the era of community gossip and discussing household products.

“There’s this moving away from a one-to-many model, where we would just transmit messages … Today, it's numerous dialogues, many communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these audiences appear specific, yet they are vast.

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

The approach indicates seismic changes happening in audience habits, with Gen Z and millennial audiences allocating more attention to social media platforms than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The transition is visible in declines in traditional media advertising. In the UK, commercial funding 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 media convergence as brands effectively act as media producers, partnering with a multitude of digital creators to boost their products.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers out of certain traditional media outlets and they’re spending a lot more time on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Many companies report to us audiences believe endorsements from the creators they engage with compared to commercial messages. This is a persistent pattern.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by targeting content creators over big traditional media campaigns, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Advertising spending on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. Stateside, it has over doubled since 2021 and is forecast to attain substantial figures in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Despite the huge changes, experts said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as broadcasters retained the power to frame public debate.

The executive noted: “A top-tier ROI marketing event is still the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Our relevance has faded.’ It concerns who commands eyeballs … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”