Most people agree that ad agencies have been wrong-footed by the shift towards Social Media. The big agency business model, for so long such a profitable venture, now looks slow and bloated.

But business models aside, what ad agencies do best is tell stories. I’ve just read a couple of great posts from Gaurav Mishra that reminded me that stories are indeed at the very heart of Social Media.  In this post, Gaurav talks about how storytelling is a key to Social Media success. Here, he relates his experience at November’s TedIndia conference and the fantastic stories he heard there.

If you believe that people like to hear, and crucially share, stories; and that ad agencies are some of culture’s best storytellers, then it is easy to see that the future of ad agencies might not be as bleak as they may seem here at the end of 2009.

Ad agencies have the storytellers and they understand how to use mulitple mediums – print, still, video, audio. It should be easier for them to add some key personnel who understand Social Media than for those that understand Social Media to add all the things ad agencies do well to their arsenal.