Everyone loves a good story. Some people read them in linear form, on pages constructed of actual paper (hey! old school!), occasionally raising a mug filled with tea towards their mouths, and making deep, guttural satisfied noises in the back of their throats.

Others consume the narrative piece-by-piece, in mini-snack form, as delicious nuggets of a character-driven plot, each bite-sized chunk squirreled away somewhere inside their phone, laptop, iPad or other carriers of media, until appetite comes calling once again.

Multi-platform snacking, social media over-dosage, twitter addiction… all are driven by connections, yes, and the desire for information, entertainment, a sense of belonging and so on. But connection is also underpinned by the satisfaction that comes with finding out the ‘next chapter of the narrative’. This is a distinctly human trait; the overwhelming desire to discover the next part of the story.

The thing here, though, is that you’re in control of the story. Anyone can influence it – but only you can ultimately control it, and it’s about the one protagonist whom you can seamlessly identify with: You.

Think of it as a story constructed from hundreds of parts, brought to you however you want, appearing immediately at a touchpoint near you.

It’s almost as if there’s a small piece of you scattered, shrapnel-like, across the entire internet and beyond. Creating, joining up and pushing the collective pieces – the chapters – of that narrative onwards is somewhat addictive, isn’t it?

Facebook Timeline is probably the most succinct example to bring this point to life: the story of you, as created by you. Intel’s Museum of Me is another.

One obvious piece of advertising work that contextualises this amongst the parallel groups of advertiser(s) and consumer(s) is the Jay Z /Bing Decoded campaign (below).

Jay Z’s life / your life / even the life of, arguably, Bing itself (metaphorically at least)…this campaign is lauded not only for its creativity, audacity and strategic nous, but because it nods at something even bigger. It suggests the sheer, narrative potential offered by a truly multi-faceted campaign, using every available form of touchpoint (and ‘inventing’ plenty of them too).

It wasn’t so much an advertising campaign as an industry-altering event. Suddenly, every node of connection to consumers really could be an essential chapter.

In fact, all touchpoints, no matter if they are digital or not, have an equal part to play in supporting and unfolding the story; from humble leaflets, point of sale posters, take-ones, direct mail shots, to even shelf wobblers. All unfairly-deemed ‘unfashionable’, components of ‘old media’ are actually extremely valid, rich and useful touchpoints to propel the narrative forward, in addition to social media channels.

It could be said that the more old-school or analogue the touchpoint, the more innovatively it can be used. That’s why I thought Nike Grid was such a breathtakingly brilliant piece of work last year; using the existing  phone box network of London as both the architecture and concept to underpin the narrative, which was essentially all about the runners themselves.

Yep, it’s your life, it’s an immersive story, and it’s appearing one touchpoint at a time.

All you need now is a campfire and some yummington marshmallows.