‘Social Listening’: The Consumer Goods Giant Looks to Exploit Vaseline’s TikTok Moment.

As a product discovered over 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an obvious target for social media algorithms.

Yet the brand’s emergence as a popular subject on TikTok has positioned it at the vanguard of an promotional upheaval, seeing big businesses investing heavily in content creators and putting fewer resources into promoting products in conventional outlets.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by scientist Robert Cheeseborough, who observed drillers applying to their skin with a residue from oil extraction. Today, a spree of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

It has been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or making fragrance last longer, along with a cure for creaky hinges. Its use has even extended to prevent the annoyance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Capitalising on the Conversation

Spotting its digital renaissance, strategists within the corporation boosted the tips 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 confirmed. Similarly supported were ideas it could prolong perfume and revive leather bags. Suggestions it could whiten teeth or lengthen eyelashes were refuted.

The ‘Social Listening’ Strategy

Outdoor advertising and television commercials would once have been the cornerstone of its marketing push. However, this online trend has led decision-makers to turbocharge spending on content creators.

This monitoring of online platforms to shape commercial tactics has been termed “social listening”. Unilever's CEO, freshly instated, has stated the intention is to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

Selina Sykes, who is leading the online push, said the company was just evolving with contemporary approaches of connecting with customers. She said interacting online “without dampening the fun” was paramount.

“How can companies join discussions credibly? This remains our core objective as brands, dating to when neighbors chatted over fences and sharing usage tips.

“The trend is shifting from a broadcast model, where we would just broadcast out … Now it’s many conversations, many communities. Changes in digital feeds means that these communities feel niche, but they’re not.

“Having your brand advocated by other people, talked about by other people, that is how you can build trust and relevance. Creators are critical to that. We are expanding this endorsement system.”

A Fundamental Consumption Turn

This plan mirrors profound shifts occurring in how media is consumed, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on social media platforms than traditional TV, print, or radio.

The transition is visible in drops in traditional media advertising. Within the United Kingdom, commercial funding for primary networks have declined by over six hundred million pounds in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

Influencer Marketing Expansion

It also reflects a blurring of media roles as large companies almost become production houses themselves, collaborating with a multitude of digital creators to promote their goods.

An industry expert from a leading agency said: “Clearly, there is a migration of viewers away from some legacy media and they’re spending a lot more time on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are consuming linear broadcasts or printed matter.

“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the creators they engage with over traditional advertisements. It's an ongoing shift.”

He added firms may also cut expenditures by investing in creators over large-scale legacy ad buys, which also permits simpler message refinement to gauge performance.

The approach is growing. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is increasing four times faster than total media spending. Across the United States, it has more than doubled 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 broadcasters retained the power to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “One of the highest return-on-investment media opportunities is still major broadcast spectacles. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘We are no longer pertinent.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … There is undoubtedly a future for traditional media.”