What you need to know:

• Mesh has launched in Sydney selling location-based SaaS analytics.
• The data is anonymous, said MD Duncan McIntyre, but can deliver digital-esque metrics to physical environments, such as reach, frequency, dwell time.
• That means brands, experiential firms, landlords, retailers and public space operators can make smarter business and pricing decisions. OOH operators may also be interested.

Spatial analytics firm Meshh has set up shop in Sydney with Justin Hemmes Merivale and World Surf League as founder clients.

After launching its New York office and landing brands including Diageo, Verizon, Westfield and Formula1, MD Duncan McIntyre, a former experiential and digital out of home exec, is back in Sydney touting “digital metrics for the real world”. But crucially, without privacy and consent issues – and based on real people.

The firm uses passive ‘mesh’ sensors to “listen to wi-fi pings” and create anonymised device IDs so it can map how people and their mobile phones move around a physical space. It feeds back the analytics so that landlords, retailers, event operators and experiential agencies have a handle on what worked, what didn’t and how to do it – and price it – better next time.

“Unlike traditional wi-fi analytics we’re not concerned about who people are, or what they have done prior. We appreciate that is a thing of the past,” said McIntyre.

“But we are bringing those digital metrics – dwell time, unique visitors, reach, frequency – to the real world in a consistent, first party way. And that has been long overdue.”

In a post-Covid world, McIntyre said that kind of data will only become more valuable. US clients, he said, have cut down “from 1,500 events to 500 higher quality events” based on Meshh’s data.

With Westfield and other retail landlords and operators, the firm “helps them better evaluate that activation before and after, so they can post-report on a new event and use the data going into year two to better value how that space is sold,” said McIntyre.

“Budgets are coming under greater scrutiny than ever. In the next 12-18 months effective use of those budgets will be top priority for anyone returning to events.”

OOH analytics?

Meanwhile, out of home (OOH) operators and the OMA are also in Meshh’s crosshairs. McIntyre thinks the technology could provide a crucial audience validation tool as the industry continues to build out sharper measurement analytics.

“OOH is certainly somewhere where we think we can bring value. It's just about making sure we bring the right data points to the environment. Reach, dwell, frequency are all pretty important for those guys,” he said.

Whether brands, landlords, retailer, rights holders, experiential firms or OOH operators, “the really important thing is how to get into the science of those behaviours in public spaces to benefit marketing operations”, said McIntyre, without worrying about any incoming privacy legislation.

“For [clients] not to have the fear of legal battles about opt-ins or to have to build all of that [consent and governance] infrastructure, the anonymous aspect is huge.”