A new communications intelligence platform designed to analyse how messages may be received across Oklahoma’s 77 counties has been launched by strategic communications firm Saxum, as organisations face increasing pressure to make faster and more evidence-based public engagement decisions.
Foundry DST, described by its developers as Oklahoma’s first county-by-county anticipatory sentiment intelligence capability, has been created to help communications teams assess how specific messaging, campaigns or policy positions could perform before they are released publicly.
The launch reflects growing demand among government agencies, energy firms, public health bodies, tribal institutions and advocacy organisations for more granular audience intelligence in a state with significant regional and demographic variation.
Saxum said the platform was designed to address a longstanding problem for Oklahoma communicators: statewide messaging strategies often fail to account for the differences between counties and communities.
For example, messaging that resonates in urban centres such as Tulsa or Oklahoma County may not perform similarly in more rural regions, including the panhandle. The company argues that traditional polling and communications research methods have struggled to capture those differences quickly or cost-effectively.
“Communications professionals have always known their state is nuanced. They’ve lived it in every campaign, every announcement and every high-stakes decision they’ve had to make,” said Hart Brown, President, AI & Transformation at Saxum.
“What they have not had, until now, is a way to prove it before the launch, before the spend and before the room. Foundry DST gives them that: a way to see where a message will hold, where it will break and how to strengthen it before trust is lost and money is spent.”
Analyst-guided platform combines AI models with Oklahoma-specific data
According to Saxum, Foundry DST functions as a decision support system rather than a predictive tool. The platform evaluates text, images and video content and produces county-level sentiment classifications using a Green, Yellow or Red framework alongside confidence scores and narrative analysis.
Where resistance or negative sentiment is identified, the system suggests alternative framing, highlights language considered problematic and generates revised messaging aimed at improving reception.
The platform is designed to allow communications teams to refine and retest messaging multiple times during a single engagement process, replacing what Saxum described as slower, traditional research cycles that can take weeks or months to complete.
Unlike self-service analytics dashboards, the company said Foundry DST is delivered through analyst-guided engagements in which communications specialists interpret findings and advise clients on strategic implications.
At the centre of the platform is what Saxum calls a proprietary Oklahoma FactBook, a dataset covering all 77 counties and incorporating more than 24 dimensions for each county. The system also draws on intelligence linked to Oklahoma’s 39 federally recognised tribes and integrates real-time trend analysis and current news developments.
The company stated that the platform is built on data and relationships developed over two decades of work across sectors including public health, energy, tribal partnerships and government affairs.
Saxum also said the technology uses four independent frontier AI models operating in parallel, with outputs statistically normalised into a single result designed to reduce hallucination risk and identify inconsistencies for human review before client delivery.
The company believes that combination of localised intelligence and multi-model AI analysis creates a barrier for potential competitors.
“No other platform can replicate that combination. Rebuilding the underlying data infrastructure alone would require an enterprise-level investment and years of time. Replicating the relationships behind it would take longer,” the company stated.
Demand grows for faster communications intelligence
The launch comes as communications teams across both public and private sectors face heightened scrutiny over messaging accuracy, stakeholder engagement and reputational risk.
Saxum argues that conventional statewide polling methods can obscure significant local variation in a state where county populations differ dramatically. Traditional research programmes can also be expensive and difficult to repeat once campaigns evolve.
Foundry DST is positioned as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for polling, with a focus on testing prospective messaging before it enters the public domain.
“Communications leaders are being asked to make faster decisions with less room for error and far more scrutiny around every choice,” Brown said.
“Foundry DST is built for that environment. It gives communicators the documented, defensible intelligence to back decisions they’re already making in high-stakes rooms, on tight timelines, with stakeholders who want evidence, not instinct.”
Saxum said the platform is intended for experienced communications professionals managing complex stakeholder environments where poorly received messaging can result in reputational damage, legislative setbacks or long-term community relationship challenges.
The company added that all outputs are reviewed by analysts with Oklahoma-specific expertise before delivery to clients, with engagements remaining fully guided rather than automated self-service offerings.
