Maxus set to launch data, analytics and marketing platform, 'Mesh'

The new tool is built on the basis of Nestle's Digital Acceleration Team (DAT) set up a couple of years ago

Jagadeesh Krishnamurthy | Mumbai | March 24, 2015

Maxus has announced its plans to introduce a new data, analytics and marketing platform, titled 'Mesh'. Developed by Maxus Asia Pacific, the tool is currently undergoing beta testing in the Philippines market, before being rolled out in larger markets like India and Australia. Maxus India's Digital Acceleration Team (DAT) initiative for Nestle was the genesis of the tool, which will be available for Indian clients in the next couple of months.

Ajit Varghese

Explaining more about the tool, Ajit Varghese, CEO, Maxus Asia Pacific, said, “The platform allows us to collect the customer level data, assimilate data in a very simplistic dashboard for decision making, helps manage content and creative in a way that can be made more relevant to the segments rather than the homogenous audience, and at the end of all of this, the effectiveness of it. So, we can do analytics as well as customer loyalty management, because we can link up the customer from your own assets or website, then we can know whether he is a meaningful customer, whether he is going to make a difference to you, then we can look at creating more advocacy or loyalty.”

The platform will be a command centre of sorts, which can assimilate all the data of third party or link up with social or website data or paid data, and bring it back into a stream onto a dashboard for the clients to take decisions. Based on the data and understanding, clients can start creating segments and sub-segments of audiences. For example, if somebody is interested more in sports or adventure, the targeting and content publishing can be attuned to that.

Observing that clients are finding it a challenge dealing with ten people to address all of these, Varghese pointed out that Maxus was trying to bring it all together under one platform, so that it can help in marketing decisions. Moreover, he informed that the flexibility of the platform allowed clients to set up the whole command centre in their office, or they could get into part services or dashboard services.

“The world out there is a bit complex because of data, content, ROI, programmatic and customer loyalty. We are trying to bring all of it together in a way, where clients can use it in a meaningful way. Otherwise you are looking at all of it in silos. We want to bring all of it in one platform so that you can start linking up cause and effect relationships and then start affecting the businesses or outcomes. It is basically like where today we say, 'planning as thinking', we are saying 'planning for action'. It is a model where we are trying to simplify the chaos outside into a mesh inside,” he elaborated.

Giving the ideation credit to Nestle, Varghese said, “I would give more credit to Nestle rather than us, because we are helping them set it up. But, the original idea of investing in a central command centre was from Nestle. We took up the challenge and set it up in India for them, because they were dealing with seven or eight different agencies. We could help them consolidate into one command centre.” Varghese noted that Nestle's DAT platform started influencing brand campaigns, creative process, advertising spends and even celebrity choices because one could test it out.

Varghese believes that the platform is of immense use to all clients, irrespective of the categories they are operating in. “As a first step, we will set it up for an FMCG, and if an FMCG is using it, I would be surprised if any other category is not using it. Knowing the customer is much easier for an automobile or telecom player. For a telecom player, who is sitting on 100 or 200 data points, they can use it even for cross selling or other purposes of understanding their audience. Clients have always wanted it, but nobody has been able to put it all together. It is a bit cost intensive, but we are willing to take those risks,” he reasoned.

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