Meta wants to monetise WhatsApp and has brought Dentsu to help, starting with its WhatsApp Business service. Dentsu’s technology arm, Merkle, has built a proprietary web platform for business customers to manage, analyse and optimise its customer relationships.
There are more than 200 million business users on WhatsApp, all looking for ways to build relationships with consumers. New advancements in AI look likely to facilitate this, and, starting with the UK, Meta is working to make the most of the possibilities around personalisation, commerce, and loyalty options.
Angela Tangas, UK&I CEO at Dentsu, said: “Customer-brand communications are in the moment and increasingly conversational. It needs to be easy and brands that embrace conversational experiences will be well-positioned to thrive. Our relationship with Meta is focused on helping brands achieve deeper engagement and value with their current and prospective customers, a critical enabler for growth.”
Derya Matras, Meta VP Northern Europe Middle East Africa, said: “For people and businesses across the world, WhatsApp is a great place to get business done,” said. “We’re looking forward to seeing how Dentsu brings the power of messaging to its customers around the world so they can accomplish more right within a chat.”
Meta’s study tells them that 75% of adults want to communicate with a business the same way they do with friends and family, through messaging. It’s no surprise that Meta wants to monetise WhatsApp, but the company has already ruined Instagram and Facebook by saturating feeds with poorly-targeted and often low quality ads, and it looks like WhatsApp might be heading the same way.
