Rishad Tobaccowala is the CEO of Denuo, a futures "think-do" company that helps its clients get to the future first in ways that make "tomorrow tangible today". Denuo combines strategy, research, ideas, program management and ventures to help clients as varied as Hewlett Packard, Nestle Purina and Astra Zeneca and also works with start-ups such as Daylife, Meebo and Glam Media. Denuo is part of Publicis Groupe.
Along with his Denuo role, Tobaccowala serves on the board of VivaKi, as the top innovation leader across its four brands of Starcom MediaVest Group, Zenith Optimedia, Digitas and Denuo.
Prior to his current roles, Tobaccowala 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. The development of SMG Next resulted in the launch of several successful practices for SMG including: SMG Play, the first company to leverage videogames as a marketing platform; word-of-mouth practice Reverb; and Digits, a leader in mobile marketing. The TV 2.0 practice he developed focuses on the future of consumer engagement with video marketing messages. Tobaccowala was also responsible for developing SMG Search, which specializes in leveraging search applications in new ways for leading spenders in the category, including General Motors.
Before conceptualizing SMG NEXT, Tobaccowala was president and founder of SMG IP, the digital and interactive arm of SMG. As such, he played a central role in shaping the agency, which was selected by Media magazine as both 2002 and 2004 Interactive Agency of The Year.
In 1993 Tobaccowala formed Leo Burnett's Interactive Marketing Group and between 1996 and 1999 served as the President of Giant Step, Leo's interactive agency which he helped profitably grow from 3 to 100 employees.
Tobaccowala has over 25 years of marketing and strategy experience across a wide spectrum of clients and companies. He was named by Business Week as one of the top business leaders in 2005 for his pioneering innovation, and TIME magazine once 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; dubbed OMMA magazine Media Strategist All-Star for 2005; and named one of 2005's Best Leaders by BusinessWeek. He has written for (or been featured in) a host of news outlets, including Wired, Business Week, Fortune, Fast Company, MSNBC and Slate.
Tobaccowala is a much sought after speaker who has presented to several board of directors and senior leaderships of companies as diverse as Gucci Groupe, Nestle and Reuters as well as at Industry events put together by Forbes, Microsoft, Fairchild and many others.
In addition to the PGM board, Tobaccowala serves on the board of directors of leading behavioral marketing firm Revenue Science, the next generation search company Snap (an Idealab Company), Honeyshed (founded by David Droga) and the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. He also serves as an advisor to many start-ups.
Tobaccowala holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Bombay and an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago.
