Short Takes: Prepping for the People Network

Rishad Tobaccowala likes to say he worked in digital before it was cool, going all the way back to the CD-ROM days of 1993. Nowadays, he’s less interested in digital technology, but more interested in people. The chief innovation officer at Publicis Groupe told the audience at Digiday Social: “People want to be god.” He said, “Any company that gives people god-like power will win. One of the most important things we have to recognize is we’re marketing to the gods.” One of the key platforms driving the people network is Facebook, which Tobaccowala sees as a “discovery engine.” Its moves today to introduce Timeline and new ways to share content certainly point in that direction. But Tobaccowala isn’t worried about Facebook’s growing power. He’s seen it before. “You have to deal with them with some reverence,” he said, but with some attitude of ‘someday you’re going down too, sucker.’”