Intel® Liftoff: Accelerating Ambitious AI Startups
From the sticker on your laptop to the chips in the world’s most powerful supercomputers, Intel is one of the most recognizable and influential brands of our time.
In 2022, Intel® Liftoff for Startups was launched as an accelerator for AI startups. This is a virtual program that supports early-stage AI and machine learning startups with access to Intel® computational resources, technical expertise, and training. In addition, the program provides invaluable opportunities for co-marketing and networking. This initiative aims to help startups innovate and scale their AI technologies. It also aligns with Intel’s overall strategy to bring “AI everywhere”.
In 2023, Intel® Liftoff for Startups partnered with Inspired Marketing to scale their marketing efforts and enhance their visibility on social media.
The Challenge: Standing Out in a Crowded Market
The AI startup accelerator space is highly competitive, with giants vying for the attention of the most promising and ambitious founders. It was imperative for Intel® Liftoff to engage developers, CTOs, and founders of next-generation startups in a way that could capture mindshare in a crowded marketplace. They would need to strategically leverage the right channels, with messaging that was relevant to this highly discerning and time-strapped audience.
Intel® Liftoff needed to position itself as the premier accelerator for startups seeking expert guidance, access to Intel® Tiber™ Developer Cloud for compute resources and access to a global venture capital ecosystem on their journey to creating a Minimum Viable Product.
To meet this challenge, Intel® Liftoff approached Inspired Marketing to support their ambitions. The team included experts in brand strategy, social media, content marketing and public relations.
“In the Intel® Liftoff program, we partner with highly innovative startups. Speedy market entry is vital for new tech ventures, hence the need for teams to remain diligent and strategic. We tailor our program to match startup operations effectively. The agility, creativity, and speed of our marketing lead, Kelli Harris and the rest of the team at Inspired Marketing align perfectly with our startup support objectives.”
Eugenie Wirz
Global Community Manager, Intel® Liftoff for Startups.
Intel® Liftoff’s Goals: Building an Engaging Online Presence
The overarching goal of this collaboration was to support Intel® Liftoff’s lead generation strategy, and increase the number of applicants to the program. In addition, they sought to position themselves as a leading facilitator of innovation, and become a dominant player in the startup ecosystem.
To achieve these goals, Inspired Marketing would need to enhance the program’s visibility and engagement across social media channels. They would also need to improve the program’s website and create content to feature the accomplishments of participants.
To support these aims, Inspired Marketing would need to provide value to participants themselves, by interviewing them about their experiences, featuring their innovations in articles, and providing expert guidance on marketing and PR.
Overall, the strategy they designed rested on 5 pillars:
- Social media
- Co-marketing with program members
- Event support
- Content creation
- Thought leadership
Moving from Strategy to Implementation
Social Media
The team orchestrated a multi-media campaign for social media, featuring videos, photos, and GIFs to spotlight Intel® Liftoff’s team members and accomplishments.
Notably, one of Intel Liftoff’s social media posts featuring startup ASKUI emerged as the highest-performing post for Q3 2023 across all Intel Software channels.
We also crafted regular thought leadership posts to position Intel® Liftoff’s management team as leaders in the GenAI startup accelerator space.
A Refreshed Website and Content
To improve the program’s visibility, Inspired Marketing got to work on revamping the program’s website. The new copy and content gives a clearer picture of the value of the program for founders. The team wrote and published 60+ blog articles highlighting standout participants and industry events attended by the leaders of the program.
Inspired Marketing conducted in-depth interviews with program members who participated in the Intel® Innovation event. These interviews formed the bases of a series of media-rich mini-blogs that garnered tens of thousands of views.
The success of this initiative depended on Inspired Marketing’s deep familiarity with AI, and their ability to write highly technical content for an expert audience.
Brand Awareness and PR
In addition to building Intel® Liftoff’s own channels, the team proactively sought out thought leadership opportunities, speaking opportunities, podcasts and interviews to bring more attention to the program. We crafted targeted messaging and talking points for Intel® Innovation’s executive team, enhancing these public speaking and media interactions.
A strong emphasis was placed on providing startup founders with tools to amplify their voice further internally with the Intel® Liftoff community and with media. This was achieved through workshops that focused on creating announcements, crafting pitches and providing tips on how to speak to the media.
Coverage was achieved for several startups with articles being published in key publications and founders highlighted, i.e., International Women’s Day features.
Co-Marketing for Intel® Liftoff Participants
For program members themselves, Inspired Marketing successfully executed comprehensive co-marketing initiatives, focusing on building and supporting a vibrant community of startups.
This effort included the creation of co-branded templates and toolkits, case studies, interviews, PR and podcasts. Inspired Marketing effectively highlighted the achievements of program members.
We also offered expert guidance in crafting company messaging, including boilerplates and elevator pitches, and assisted in drafting announcements, constructing media lists, and managing media relations.
In September 2023, Inspired Marketing ran a successful workshop for program members, providing practical social media and public relations expertise in preparation for the annual Intel® Innovation conference. This workshop included comprehensive media kits and cheat sheets empowering startups to increase their social media presence before, during and after the event, in addition to securing valuable PR through inventive methods.
Event Marketing
Inspired Marketing played a crucial role in publicizing Intel® Liftoff’s participation at the Intel® Innovation event in September of 2023. The team created event banners and social media content for personal and company profiles to generate hype and spotlight Liftoff’s involvement.
2023 Highlight: Inspired Marketing Helps Intel® Liftoff to Launch the Advent of GenAI Hackathon
One of the highlights of Inspired Marketing’s collaboration with Intel® Liftoff for Startups came in late 2023, with the launch of the Advent of GenAI Hackathon. This was one of Intel’s largest AI hackathons, where AI developers, students and startup founders could explore the possibilities of generative AI, supported by the Intel® Developer Cloud and Intel® hardware. Inspired Marketing was tasked with maximizing awareness and engagement among developers and university students, and position Intel® Liftoff as a leader in the GenAI ecosystem.
Inspired Marketing undertook the following crucial actions to support the event:
- Developed AdventofGenAI.com, a central hub for event information, registration, and updates, and implemented SEO strategies to enhance visibility and attract a targeted audience. This was accomplished in 3 days, including the concept, design and content.
- Created content for X, LinkedIn and Facebook to share updates and engage with the tech community, including media kits for participants.
- Wrote real-time blogs during the event itself, for a total of 7 blogs covering the highlights.
- Sent out emailers, WhatsApp texts, blogs, Slack messages and LinkedIn articles.
- Organized post-event fireside chat to showcase results and spotlight participants.
“Working with Inspired Marketing has been a fantastic experience. From the initial website design to content creation and video editing, their speed and efficiency were remarkable. We look forward to rolling out many more projects with the Inspired Marketing team.”
Rahul Unnikrishnan Nair
Engineering Lead at Intel® Liftoff for Startups.
The Results We Achieved Together
Inspired Marketing played an instrumental role in the event, exceeding their initial registration targets, with over 1000 registrants on Intel® Developer Cloud, and a community of over 2000 participants. Our efforts also garnered diverse global engagement from top universities and companies across the US, India, Europe, and beyond.
Through this event, Inspired Marketing established a new benchmark for scale and engagement for future hackathons, laying a strong foundation for Intel® Liftoff’s community-building strategy going forward.
The Inspired Marketing team that supports Intel® Liftoff for Startups is international, multidisciplinary, and passionate about deep tech and AI. This combination of expertise and enthusiasm is what enables them to tackle challenges with agility, and create fresh ideas to keep pace with a highly innovative audience that’s all about pushing boundaries.
