Sometimes surprises lurk in everyday data.
Take the consumer category that Doug Rubin startup Northwind Climate calls “climate actors.” They are concerned about climate change and tend to prioritize climate-friendly purchases. This is a type of identifier that can typically be related to organic food purchases and prioritization of local businesses.
“We’ve found that the Climate Doers category is actually the most frequent consumers of fast food restaurants,” Rubin told TechCrunch. He added that around 30% of climate actors are Republicans.
The Northwind climate has evolved from Rubin’s work in the political world. There, research is essential to understanding changes in public sentiment and identifying potential voters. The startup raised a $1.05 million pre-seed round, which spoke exclusively to TechCrunch and spoke of participation from Angel Investors, including Tom Steyer, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Susty Ventures’ Alexander Hoffmann.
Rather than splitting people into demographic buckets that could segment them along political, generational, or local lines, Northwind Climate analyzes survey responses for behavioral clues that can be used to classify consumers.
In addition to climate actors, which make up about 15% of all US consumers, Northwind Climate identifies four other action groups that are “climate suffering” or are not slightly concerned about climate change, not financially safe, and are less economically safe than climate deniers who tend to retire, who think the media is wrong about the issue.
But Rubin adds, “Even those (climate deniers) have a message and a way to work with them.”
Do the analysis Northwind did with electric vehicles. For two categories of climate actors and consumers who are most likely to buy EVs because “the climate is suffering,” startups suggest that car manufacturers will assemble their cars as their choice. “We are offering options for people who can help reduce pollution, save gas money and deal with climate change,” reads one of Northwind’s proposed pitches.
But for climate doubts and deniers, the focus of the pitch shifts from choice to freedom. “Americans should have the freedom to drive what they want. We want electric cars to be clean, affordable and practical.”
The startup has built a database of 20,000 survey respondents across eight surveys, with Rubin saying it has an increase of 2,500 respondents a month. Every three months, Northwind conducts industry-specific research to gain deeper insights for a wide range of customers.
Companies subscribe to the service will cost $10,000 per quarter or $40,000 per year for a typical customer, and can add up to four questions per quarter. Rubin says there are fewer than they fire for one annual survey.
Within the platform, customers access data collected by Northwind, undergo basic analyses such as questions asked and crosstabs. Startups are building chatbots that allow users to request more specific analysis using plain language queries.
The consumers involved may look cautiously at such platforms. But Rubin isn’t worried. Research shows that consumers are quite familiar. “Our data shows that brands have a clear risk and their reputation from making claims that are exaggerated or untrue,” Rubin said.
Rubin said Northwind is also developing something called a virtual focus group. It is basically an AI model trained in survey responses, which can analyze corporate marketing materials such as TV spots and social media ads, and provide feedback just like human focus groups. The startup hopes to be available in the next four to five months, Rubin said, but he said it will continue to improve the model with new data.
Rubin believes businesses are missing out on the opportunity to connect with climate-sensitive consumers. “If you look at the data and where the consumers are, if it’s all over the place, it’s not just Democrats and independents.