Roser Reeves talked about the Unique Selling Proposition ( USP ). Ogilvy talked about the brand image. Bill Bernarch talked about advertising with a lighter touch. Jack Trout put forward  a brand in the minds of the customers and prospects. All this has changed in the competitive and digital environment of the 21st century.

By definition, advertising tom tommed the advantages of a product so as to increase the sales. As we watch the videos today on our mobiles, do they satisfy the criteria laid down by the definition? Very few do. Mostly, we have to figure out what is being advertised. Advertising has to entertain so as to keep the audience engaged. Instead of product qualities and advantages, the content is full of smiles and music, and resemble movies, rather than traditional advertising.

Social media have made things more complicated. On TV the programmes were interupted by the ad breaks. People do not like their phones and computer screen messed up by advertising. After all ads will have to go beyond entertaining people. They will have to boost up sales.

Advertising as a word is being replaced by storytelling. Marketing is now geared to storytelling. A product must have a good story, as compared to its competitors. Drama to some extent is necessary to make the story memorable. Creativity has come to mean dramatization.

And all this must be integrated — both the traditional and social media. A story has to be integrated across the media, which is not an easy task. Thus integrated storytelling should be used to improve the sales.