Rishad Tobaccowala.
Rishad Tobaccowala, who spent nearly four decades at Publicis Groupe as global chief strategist and growth officer, has joined the advisory board of Australian startup Prophet as it expands into the US.
Prophet builds each client a digital clone of their business, fed by more than 100,000 macroeconomic and behavioural signals, allowing teams to simulate how media, pricing and market conditions interact and test decisions before committing ad spend.
In 18 months the company has grown from one client to more than 30 of Australia's largest businesses across automotive, retail, FMCG, banking and wagering. Clients include BYD, where Prophet's modelling uncovered a 20-fold efficiency gap inside a media mix that appeared balanced on the surface.
Tobaccowala, who remains a senior adviser to Publicis Groupe, will advise on how senior decision-makers including CMOs and CFOs judge measurement and on positioning Prophet for a US audience. His weekly newsletter reaches more than 30,000 business leaders.
Tobaccowala said too often companies were getting answers to the wrong questions, or answers that arrived too late.
"Prophet lets a marketer run scenarios against real-world conditions to reach decisions faster, and more accurately, on the questions that actually matter to the business," he said.
Jordan Taylor-Bartels, CEO and co-founder of Prophet, said marketers everywhere were making big investment calls on numbers that only told them what had already happened.
"A digital clone changes the question — it lets a team ask what happens if they move the money here, before a dollar is committed, and get to that decision faster and with more confidence," he said.
“Rishad has spent his career helping marketers make exactly that call, and his guidance will be instrumental as we take on the US.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.