Rishad Tobaccowala on how customers are the real god, not the clients

Another day, another company introduced artificial intelligence into their systems. Recently, Netflix announced it has been developing a new advertising format that will use AI to integrate branded content into the visual environment of its shows and films. Similarly, social media giants like Snapchat, Google and more have been consistently integrating AI into their features to woo users and advertisers alike. However, across industries, a troubling pattern has emerged. Companies are announcing significant layoffs while simultaneously touting investments in AI. Tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have cut thousands of positions while pouring billions into AI development. 

It's the great paradox of our moment: massive business disruption accompanying what we can describe as merely the early stages of AI adoption. What we are witnessing now is largely experimentation, with organisations racing to implement AI capabilities without necessarily understanding how these tools will transform their business models.

According to Author and Senior Advisor to the Publicis Groupe, Rishad Tobaccowala, this approach misses the essential challenge of our time. "The worst thing a company can do is try to retrofit AI into an old model," he explained at his keynote at Goafest 2025. Companies shouldn't just build an "AI strategy"; they need to reimagine their entire business strategy for the AI age.

"AI is still underhyped," he mentioned, noting that its true impact is yet to be fully realised. According to him, the worst thing a company can do is try to fit AI into an old model.

In an interview following his keynote, Tobaccowala expanded on this perspective, noting how agencies often misunderstand their ultimate purpose.

"Some agencies are mistaking their clients for the ultimate customer. They believe marketing is about keeping clients happy. But in reality, marketing is about reminding clients that they are marketing to the gods: the consumers," he said. 

In Tobaccowala's worldview, consumers today possess "godlike power" thanks to smartphones and technology. They are empowered, informed, and have virtually infinite choice. The job of agencies isn't simply to please their immediate clients but to help brands understand how to effectively communicate with these individuals.

"Too often, agencies treat the client as the god," he emphasised. "But the real gods are the customers that the client is trying to reach."

Reimagining the agency model

For advertising agencies specifically, Tobaccowala outlined how the fundamental business flow remains unchanged while every component evolves in the AI age.

"At its core, an agency works with clients to understand customers, develop ideas, produce those ideas, distribute them, and measure the results," he explained. "That fundamental flow doesn't change, but every part of it evolves in the AI age."

It begins with understanding consumers. You no longer need traditional focus groups, as per him. “Today, you can create AI-generated personas and use them to model and predict consumer behaviour."

The creative process also goes through a revolution. For ideation, tools like ChatGPT can help generate creative concepts. Human creativity still plays a crucial role, but now it's about refining and building upon what AI suggests.

Tobaccowala envisions a future where marketing targets not just humans but also their AI representatives. "In distribution, it's not just machines targeting people. Soon, we'll be marketing to digital agents representing individuals, so you're no longer advertising just to a person, but also to their AI assistant. That's a massive shift."

The human element

During his Goafest keynote, Tobaccowala emphasised that "success today needs creativity, curiosity, collaboration, communication, and convincing", all human qualities. He advised the audience not to "chase coding or Mandarin" but to focus on developing soft skills that machines can't easily replace.

This perspective extends to how organisations should handle the workforce disruption that AI inevitably brings. In our interview, he acknowledged, "Within the next year, about 20% of current jobs may become irrelevant based on what people do today."

But rather than seeing this solely as a threat, he believes there is a need to reimagine work itself. "If AI makes 20% of your workforce redundant in terms of tasks, do you eliminate those people, or reimagine how your company operates?"

He proposed innovative approaches like flexible work schedules, giving employees options to work 60%, 80%, or 100% of the time with proportional pay but full healthcare benefits. "Most people, when given the choice, choose to work around 80%. That way, you could cut costs without cutting jobs."

According to him, the future of work is equal to the decline of jobs and, rise of meaningful work. The savings from AI-driven efficiency, he argues, should be channelled into reimagining the business and not just maintaining the current one.

Tobaccowala believes in the importance of adaptability and calls it "thinking like an immigrant."

"Stay curious, adaptive, and open to reinvention. Stop benchmarking within your industry, disruption often comes from outside."

This immigrant mindset values continuous learning and adaptation. "Upgrade your mental operating system regularly, like your phone," he urged the audience at Goafest. Those who fail to evolve risk becoming obsolete.

Building companies on today’s realities

Tobaccowala believes that the future doesn't fit in the containers of the past. “Build new companies for today's realities, not outdated structures," he urged during his keynote.

AI isn't just another tool to be added to existing business models. As Tobaccowala noted in our interview, "The savings from efficiency should be channelled into reimagining your business, not just maintaining the current one. Because someone else out there is building an AI-first company that may look very different from yours, and they'll have the advantage unless you do the same."

He advised to reinvent ourselves continuously. For Tobaccowala, the ultimate challenge isn't implementing AI but reimagining what's possible in a world where AI is as ubiquitous as electricity. Those who succeed will be those who combine technology with distinctly human qualities: creativity, empathy, and the courage to envision entirely new ways of working.

(This article is based on Rishad Tobaccowala's keynote address at Goafest 2025 and a subsequent interview.)

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