Location-based marketing company xAd has rebranded and will now be known as ‘GroundTruth’ to reflect the shift in the company’s focus.

The New York-based firm, founded in 2009, has moved evolved from a company that focuses on the advertising industry to a company that uses media and data to help businesses achieve results.

“What we’ve found is that location goes far beyond helping to increase sales or store visits through ads. It can actually move markets, drive innovation and even save lives,” said Monica Ho, CMO of GroundTruth. “The rebrand represents our desire to strip away the complexity around our technology to clearly demonstrate how people across many industries can benefit from these services.”

The rebrand was developed in partnership with brand strategy company Siegel+Gale – which helped develop a new visual identity and brand position, on top of the new name.

The shift in offering data instead advertising means GroundTruth now helps companies across various industries and sectors. One example of this is the company advising companies on how to use their foot traffic insights to make more strategic investments. GroundTruth currently partners companies including McDonald’s, L’Occitane, Timberland, Outfront Media, iHeartMedia, and Univision.

“The name xAd was too limiting for our business,” said Dipanshu ‘D’ Sharma, CEO of GroundTruth. “The power of location data doesn’t have to be limited to media and can be realised in other applications from real estate, traffic, and out-of-home planning to layering in weather to determine its impact on visits, something we recognized after acquiring WeatherBug. As GroundTruth, we’re able to realize our ambitions beyond media.”