UM: Turning every marketing campaign into a two-way conversation
How full-service agency UM helps create meaningful conversations between brands and their customers, turning campaigns from something that’s seen into experiences that audiences actively engage with.
Brands today face a growing challenge; consumers increasingly ignore traditional advertising, making it harder to drive engagement and achieve measurable results. UM has addressed this by using conversational AI and WhatsApp to connect with audiences in a more personalized, human way.
The agency provides full-funnel media services, helping brands drive growth through a unique marketing model focused on consideration – the key driver of sales.
During Infobip Global Partner Days 2025, we spoke with James Dutton, Chief Product Officer at UM for the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey region. Partnership with Infobip allows UM to diversify offerings and integrate innovative messaging and automation tools, giving brands a competitive edge.
How conversational AI is shaping modern advertising
As attention becomes harder to capture, agencies are rethinking how brands engage with consumers beyond one-way messaging. Through a conversational AI strategy, UM delivers benefits such as:
- 24/7 availability, allowing customers to get support and information at any time
- Personalized interactions, tailored to individual needs and behaviors
- Immediate responses, reducing wait times and speeding up resolution
- Automation of routine tasks, such as FAQs, bookings, and status updates
- Smarter use of live agents, freeing them to focus on complex interactions
- Actionable insights from conversations, helping brands improve strategies and experiences
Conversational messaging on WhatsApp: A more personal way to connect
WhatsApp is a familiar and widely used channel where consumers feel comfortable interacting with brands. It allows UM to deliver timely messages, answer questions, and guide customers through their journey in real time. By enabling two-way interactions that feel personal and human, brands can create engaging experiences that capture attention and build stronger connections with their audiences.
Conversational experiences are one of the fastest-growing areas in our region. WhatsApp, in particular, is ubiquitous here. What we’re finding is that conversations give us new ways to engage with consumers and capture data in a protected environment. They also allow us to create better brand experiences, which ultimately leads to more effective marketing and better results for our clients.
James Dutton
Chief Product Officer at UM
Beyond clicks: Building real connections at every step
Audiences are constantly exposed to messages from countless brands across offline and digital channels. Simply reaching them is no longer enough; getting noticed is just the first step. The real challenge lies in turning visibility into engagement.
UM approaches this with campaigns that guide consumers through each stage of the journey, from initial awareness to product discovery and consideration. By creating experiences that encourage active participation rather than passive viewing, brands can have stronger relationships, increase trust, and influence purchase decisions.
Our platform helps UM manage these interactions and improve:
- Lead qualification
- Product discovery
- Client engagement
The number of channels we can advertise in, whether offline or digital, means it’s increasingly difficult to reach the right consumer. Even when we find the audience, that doesn’t guarantee they will respond to our messages. We need to create an environment where engagement goes beyond clicks and builds real connections. Conversational experiences help us do exactly that, allowing us to better connect with, identify, and understand consumers.
James Dutton
Chief Product Officer at UM
Optimizing campaigns with unified customer insights
By partnering with us, UM can use advanced messaging platforms like WhatsApp without the need for extensive in-house technical resources. But effective interactions don’t stop at messaging alone. To support these interactions across campaigns, a key element is our customer data platform (CDP), which simplifies the process of capturing and organizing customer data.
Through centralized insights, the CDP enables UM to:
- Create highly personalized remarketing campaigns
- Reach the right audience with the right message at the right time
- Quickly implement data-driven strategies
- Boost client engagement
- Achieve measurable results across industries
“One of the really great things about the CDP is its simplicity. Many enterprise customer data solutions are complex, have long sales cycles, and can be difficult to implement. Infobip’s solution works straight out of the box,” says James Dutton.
Innovation never stops: Winning through partnership
With Infobip marking 20 years of innovation, businesses have access to powerful tools that transform how they go to market. Dutton explains that our platform enables companies to offer solutions that many competitors cannot, providing a clear advantage in winning new business and powering innovative media strategies.
Through the combination of data-driven strategies, conversational AI, and personalized messaging, brands can connect more meaningfully with audiences, drive engagement, and ultimately grow sales.
Hearing the story of the company’s evolution, from a small local social network to the global scale it has today, is truly impressive. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Infobip, one of the most collaborative tech companies we work with. Product development has been amazing, and progress over the last three years has been astonishing. Looking ahead, we see huge potential for continued growth. Conversational AI and conversational media are among the fastest-growing areas, and we’re excited to be part of this journey.
James Dutton
Chief Product Officer at UM
