This is the third year of Riviera Unfolded in Cannes, Meta morning sessions designed exclusively for dentsu and dentsu clients.
This year, Meta hosted Olya Dyachuk, Global Head of Media & Digital Commerce, HEINEKEN, and Will Swayne, Global Practice President, Media at dentsu. Shona Silton, Global Director, Agencies at Meta, moderated the conversation.
On the Meta/dentsu partnership
Shona: Meta and dentsu share one of the most ambitious partnerships in our industry. It's a relationship built on more than media spend. It's built on a shared belief that the brands who move fastest into new spaces will be the ones who win.
Together, we've leaned into what we see as the next wave of growth - and it's coming from multiple directions at once. First, AI is fundamentally reshaping how businesses connect with people - from the way ads are created and optimized to entirely new experiences powered by Meta AI. Just recently, we announced Meta Business Agent, an enterprise AI agent that can act on behalf of a business to drive sales, answer customers, and build relationships across Messenger and WhatsApp at scale. That's a gamechanger, and it's one we're building with agency partners like dentsu.
Next, WhatsApp - now at more than 2 billion users - is becoming one of the most powerful commerce and conversation platforms in the world, and we're only scratching the surface of what it can do for brands. Then there’s the explosion of the creator economy, where we're seeing some of the most authentic and effective brand storytelling happening across Instagram and Reels.
What excites me most about our partnership with dentsu is that we're not just talking about the future, we're actively co-building it. Whether that's testing new AI tools, pioneering business messaging strategies, or unlocking creator partnerships at scale, this is a relationship that's designed to keep dentsu's clients at the front of what's next.
So today, I want to get into it with Will — where dentsu is heading, how AI agents are going to redefine what an agency does, and what it really looks like when a platform and an agency lean in together. And then I want to show how together we’ve upped the game for our mutual client, Heineken.
On dentsu's strategy
Shona: dentsu has been through a massive transformation - new operating model and shifting from services to integrated solutions. Where is that journey heading next, and how does our dentsu/Meta partnership fit in?
Will: We're at a genuinely fascinating moment in the industry. The hyperscalers, including Meta, have built extraordinary infrastructure. The models, the leaps in AI advancements - it's remarkable what's now possible. And what that creates, paradoxically, is a new kind of challenge for brands: not a lack of capability, but an abundance of it. The question is how do we harness that power in a way that's connected, governed, and actually translates into business outcomes.
That's the space dentsu has been deliberately building into. It’s the missing operating layer - the ability to integrate across platforms, orchestrate intelligence, and help clients navigate complexity rather than just add to it. The move to integrated solutions was about positioning ourselves to do exactly that. It enables us to be a genuine strategic partner to CMOs who are being asked to prove impact faster than ever.
What makes the Meta relationship so central to our strategy is that we're genuinely co-investing in what comes next, not just in media, but in the broader transformation of how brands connect with people. Our partnership enables real transformation and builds genuinely differentiating capabilities for our clients.
On AI and Meta Business Agent
Shona: We've just launched Meta Business Agent which is AI that can act on behalf of a business across our platforms, from creative to customer engagement. How do you see it? Where does this create new opportunities for dentsu and your clients?
Will: We think that the launch of Meta Business Agent is both exciting and timely. It’s clearly a huge growth category and we’re now seeing engagement across our largest global clients as they explore how messaging integrates across their businesses.
We are seeing greater success in media from ads to WhatsApp using AI optimization in custom targeting. We’re seeing customers respond positively when brands offer useful experiences, and now we’re starting to see the role of WhatsApp as a key commerce channel.
We see opportunity for AI agents to form the backbone of autonomous media optimization, using those signals to start commerce conversations in ads which then lead to customer engagement and value growth through WhatsApp.
Looking ahead — partnership + AI future
Shona: When you think about the speed of AI and what we're building together, what's the one thing we should be co-investing in right now that our mutual clients will thank us for in 12 months? And what should CMO’s be asking of your agency and your platform partner?
Will: Eighty-one percent of marketers say they want integrated capabilities across paid, owned, earned and commerce from their partners. But only 45% feel they actually have it. That gap between what everyone says and what's actually being delivered is a huge opportunity in our industry right now. And that's where I'd focus our co-investment.
For me it comes back to integration and measurement, and Meta is uniquely positioned to help us close both gaps. Whether it's the evolution of business agents across WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, agentic commerce tools that are fundamentally changing how consumers discover and buy, or the creative automation capabilities that are already operating at extraordinary scale — these aren't incremental updates. They're big bets on the same thesis we have at dentsu: the future of marketing is a connected system, not a set of channels.
And when you combine Meta’s product ambition with dentsu's ability to orchestrate it on behalf of clients, that's where the real opportunity sits. We're talking about the ability to connect a brand's media investment all the way through to a customer conversation, a transaction, a relationship. That full-funnel connection is what I want us to build together right now.
So, if I'm a CMO sitting here today, I'd be asking two things.
First: Can my agency and my platform partner show me a genuinely connected system, not a collection of capabilities that still require me to manage the interfaces? Meta and dentsu together can help answer that question.
Second: Show me the outcomes. AI-driven creative investment is projected to grow 86% in the next two years with agentic commerce up 71%. That's not a future bet, that's a now bet. And I'd want to know exactly how my partners are going to help me capture that growth and measure it.
The winners in the next 12 months won't be the ones with the most AI tools. They'll be the ones who figured out how to connect them, and that's what we're here to build.
The Heineken experience
Shona: Olya, how is Heineken currently using WhatsApp as a channel to connect with consumers, and where do you see the biggest untapped opportunity for Heineken in conversational marketing or commerce?
Olya: We’re using WhatsApp to amplify our sports partnerships to engage and delight fans whether they are watching at home or in a venue, support our key campaign moments regionally, and even offer rewards for recycling in some markets. It’s a great channel to engage one-to-one with our drinkers and learn about them so we can ensure we are delivering great experiences now and in the future.
The opportunity is in scale. We can see this channel is working in pockets and now, it’s about reinforcing brand preference through aligning ourselves with the cultural moments our customers are passionate about, in the channel they want be, wherever they are.
From a commerce perspective it’s a little more difficult as, of course, you can’t sell alcohol directly in WhatsApp or even promote it in some markets, so we are finding a role for the channel that can engage customers and promote footfall or drive off-trade sales through other mechanics.
Shona: From the agency side, Will, what are the biggest operational challenges you face when planning and executing WhatsApp activations for a client like Heineken, and how could Meta better enable you?
Will: I think it’s clear when you look at the many ways brands can engage customers using a channel like WhatsApp from acquisition to engagement and customer service, the challenge is finding what that requires of the brand organizationally. We spend a lot of time helping brands determine the role of messaging for their businesses.
For Heineken, in particular, the WhatsApp opportunity is to create communities and nurture fandoms around their partnerships with the likes of F1 or football that offer not just a direct interaction channel, but an entertainment channel, too.
I think for me, our ask of Meta would be to help educate brands on how to get the best from their channels - from creators to content, how to build brand personalities where users act conversationally, and how to more meaningfully connect the agentic experience through ads.
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