Relative Insight

Relative Insight was founded in 2012 and is a privately held company with offices in London and Lancaster. Relative Insight uses comparative language algorithms, developed with Lancaster University's linguistic and cyber security departments, to detect changes in language. The firm was spun out of Lancaster University by founders Phil Greenwood and James Walkerdine, who were joined by Ben Hookway and Rich Wilson in 2013.

Clients are a mixture of brands, as well as creative and media agencies including Microsoft Mobile, Saatchi & Saatchi, Havas helia, Maxus, and Ogilvy. The first commercial application of the research was in law enforcement. Relative Insight was focused on detecting masquerading by criminals online. The company continues that work but has expanded into the marketing world. Relative Insight analyses the way a brand's target market speaks online – for example on Facebook, Twitter, in comments and on forums – and advises the company how best to appeal to this audience.