Sometimes, surprises are lurking in everyday data.
Take a category of consumers that Doug Rubin’s startup, Northwind Climate, calls “climate doers.” They’re concerned about climate change and tend to prioritize climate-friendly purchases, the sort of identifiers who might be stereotypically associated with things like buying organic foods or prioritizing local businesses.
“Turns out that the climate doers category actually are the consumers who most frequent fast-food restaurants,” Rubin told TechCrunch. What’s more, some 30% of climate doers are Republicans, he added.
Northwind Climate evolved from Rubin’s work in the political world, where surveys are vital to understanding shifts in public sentiment and identifying likely voters. The startup has raised a $1.05 million pre-seed round, it exclusively told TechCrunch, with participation from angel investors, including Tom Steyer, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, and Alexander Hoffmann of Susty Ventures.
Rather than divide people into demographic buckets that might segment along political, generational, or regional lines, Northwind Climate analyzes survey responses for behavioral clues that can be used to classify consumers.
In addition to climate doers, who comprise about 15% of all U.S. consumers, Northwind Climate has identified four other behavioral groups, ranging from “climate distressed,” or people who are slightly less concerned about climate change and aren’t as financially secure as the climate doers, to the climate deniers, who tend to be retirees who think the media is exaggerating the problem.
But, Rubin adds, “even in that [climate deniers] bucket, there are messages and ways that work with them.”
Northwind Climate has found five discrete segments that describe consumers’ views on climate change.Image Credits:Northwind Climate
Take some analysis Northwind did on electric vehicles. For climate doers and “climate distressed,” two categories of consumers who are most likely to buy an E …