Over the past few weeks, a number of high-profile execs have left from VivaKi. Just this week, Patrick Moorhead defected from his Razorfish as director of emerging media to join Interpublic Group’s Draftfcb, where he will head up the agency’s new mobile platforms practice. A month ago, Razorfish lost two top executives, Chief Strategy Officer Jeff Lanctot and Managing Director Jim Watson, who both chose to remain with Microsoft. Outside of Razorfish, Tim Hanlon, who helped launch Denuo, exited from his role as EVP and managing director of VivaKi Ventures, Publicis’ new media VC arm.

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With respect to Tobaccowala, a Publicis veteran, the move is a way to keep a well-regarded new media thinker within its confines, while reducing the cost of running a separate unit. It’s not clear what this ultimately means for Denuo, which was primarily associated with Tobaccowala and Hanlon, as VivaKi is still figuring whether an ad agency can afford to maintain futurist function at a time when the ad business continues to struggle financially. Publicis reps insisted that the change in Denuo’s status does not suggest any kind of lesser role. “We see this as integration as a great accelerator for the Denuo brand,” by bringing joining it more closely with its agency siblings, the rep told paidContent.

Update: Tobaccowala contacted us and emphasized that not only was he not leaving, but said that despite no longer being CEO of Denuo, the new role represents an expansion of his responsibilities. In an e-mail, Tobaccowala said that he will now be able to serve as the “vision” driver across all of VivaKi, beyond just serving at Denuo. He will continue to handle Denuo’s clients, while working for VivaKi managing partners Jack Klues and David Kenny.

Tobaccowala also wanted to note that Denuo isn’t fading away and will still maintain its own clients independent of Digitas and Razorfish.