Signagelive, meldCX Partner On Retail Audience Measurement Solution

March 24, 2022 by Dave Haynes

The Aussie AI and IoT software and solutions firm meldCX has gone into a new partnership with UK digital signage firm Signagelive to market and deliver retail-centric screen solutions that are informed and driven by audience measurement data.

The companies liken what they can collectively measure and use to the kinds of analytics Youtube generates, but in this case for screens in physical stores.

The tie-up is built around Viana, the AI-based computer vision platform developed by meldCX. Collectively, the platforms “aim to bridge that blind spot, revealing digital signage analytics that were previously untrackable, such as demographics data, dwell times, glances, and content view-throughs.”

The outcomes, says the PR:

Meld does a couple of things. It has its own flavor of computer vision, similar to what companies like Quividi, Sightcorp, VSBLTY and AdMobilize market. But it also  offers a platform as a service, intended to make it much easier and faster for software vendors, integrators and solutions providers to stick to what they’re good at. The customer worries about the user experience and key functions of an application, which can sit on top of a meldCX technology stack that has already got things like OS compatibility and scalability worked out.

The Viana thing is more about developing insights around not only the characteristics of who is in front of screens, but also what’s going on around the screens.

I am pretty sure this is the first computer vision partnership meldCX has done with one of the bigger, more active signage CMS firms. It’s logical on a couple of counts:

  1. The Signagelive guys have always tried to push possibilities and do stuff a lot of their competitors haven’t yet considered, and are all about APIs;
  2. MeldCX’s partnerships and business development are run by digital signage industry vet Raffi Vartian, who spent about five years working with Signagelive, so he knows the people and platform.

Beyond signage, says PR, the vision AI solution also provides organizations with the ability to see the entire retail store experience. From in-store zone engagement, to shelf or product engagement via hand movement tracking, to any purchasing decisions in POS. 

For instance, a customer walks into a store and browses through the headphones section, before purchasing a speaker instead. What influences his decision? Did he glance at a signage ad of the speaker? Is it the product placement? How long did he spend browsing through the headphones section? 

All this can be tracked on the Viana platform by meldCX, unlocking powerful capabilities for organizations to create exceptional omnichannel customer experience at every stage of the journey. 

One of the interesting side notes about this is how it is marketed, which should be a lesson to any number of vendors in the digital signage ecosystem. So, so, so many companies in the industry put out announcements that dwell on specs and go heavy on the pleased/excited/delighted puffery, but leave readers like me hanging on what it really does and why anyone should care.

If vendors wonder why Sixteen:Nine doesn’t write about their latest and greatest, it just might be because it’s not clear what’s actually new or interesting, or the PR people who did up the press and marketing pieces don’t terribly (or at all) understand what they are writing about, so they just work in the specs and add some invented quotes from execs who say they’re some form of giddy about the advances or partnerships.

In this case, and typically for Signagelive, there’s a dedicated web page ready, an on-demand long-format video interview and discussion, and audio excepts for social media.

For example:

This takes more work, and time, but Signagelive is not Google or Microsoft. It’s a relatively small company outside of London that understands the effort is worth it in terms of providing clarity and depth beyond pure announcements.

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