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Rishad Tobaccowala
Rishad Tobaccowala
Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer
VivaKi
Rishad Tobaccowala helps guide strategy and serves as a catalyst to innovation efforts across Vivaki—a Publicis Groupe entity that combines the collective scale, clout and talent of Denuo, Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) and ZenithOptimedia. Working closely with brand CEOs and VivaKi Country Chairs, he helps VivaKiʼs companies show clients the way forward in an exciting and changing time for marketing.
Prior to his current role, Tobaccowala was CEO of Denuo – a Publicis Groupe company that invents, inspires and instigates new forms of creativity to help brands meet challenges of modern marketplaces.
Tobaccowala has also served as the Chief Innovation Officer of Publicis Groupe Media and was the founder and President of SMG Next, the first and most comprehensive futures practice in the media industry.
Before conceptualizing SMG NEXT, Tobaccowala was president and founder of SMG IP, the digital arm of SMG. As such, he played a central role in the agency, which was selected by Media in 2002 and 2004 as Interactive Agency of The Year. In 1993, Tobaccowala formed Leo Burnettʼs Interactive Marketing Group. Between 1996 and 1999, he served as the President of Giant Step, Leoʼs interactive agency. Tobaccowala was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation (2005), and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five “Marketing Innovators.” He was appointed to Advertising Age's Interactive Hall of Fame; named Adweek's 2000 Media All-Star for Interactive Media; and honored by OMMA as a Media Strategist All-Star in 2005. In 2008, he was named an industry legend by Ad Color, and in 2009, conferred an Industry Achievement award at ad:tech for long-term dedication and industry service.
In addition to the VivaKi board, he serves on the board of directors for leading behavioral marketing firm Audience Science, distributed media network Snap (an Idealab Company) and Recycle Bank.