What I Learned From a Really Bright Guy Named Rishad Tobaccowala

First of all, I hope I learned how to spell his name correctly.  He deserves that.

Rishad is Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for Vivaki (part of Publicis Groupe), and he was the keynote speaker at the recent Advertising Marketing International Network (AMIN) conference.  A very, intelligent, mild-mannered, well-read man, indeed.  He gets up at 4 AM every day to study and learn from the Internet -- trends, blogs, news, product announcements, etc.  That's a dedication (and sleep schedule) I cannot match.

The first thing he said: The internet is not about technology -- it is about connection.  Get on and connect, and learn how others connect.

He also stated, "If an ad agency cannot deliver creativity, they should cease to exist."  Creativity is the currency is today's global economy.  Creativity is not copying.  Creativity is to surprise and enthrall.  Creativity is connecting the dots -- often in new ways that resonate with  people and culture.

The new creative palette is the social medium, the mobile medium and the API medium.  We're living in an increasingly data-infested world -- get used to it, he noted.  It leads to data-driven marketing.

He emphasized something we have long preached at Richter7:  People choose with their hearts and justify the decision with numbers.

He also emphasized "the only way to stay relevant is to change."  That's hard.  I like consistency.  Unless you yourself get better, your organization (marriage, family, club, company, church, etc.) cannot get better, he added.  To which I add a quotation that hangs on my office, and stares at me every day:  "Can we not appreciate that our very business is life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves?  To break our own records, to outstrip our yesterdays by our todays, to give as we have never given, to do our work with more force and a finer finish than ever before -- this is the true idea: to get ahead of ourselves." (Thomas S. Monson)