Case Study: AI Sustainability Center Launch

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize the world. But it also opens the door to a number of social and ethical risks that industry professionals, researchers and policymakers need to consider as they begin rolling out AI usage. The AI Sustainability Center was established in 2018 to create a world-leading multidisciplinary hub to address the scaling of AI in broader ethical and societal contexts.

Location

Sweden

Sector

Sustainability, CSR & non-profit

Service

Branding & communications

Background

Founding partners from industry include Atomico, Bonnier, Cirio, Microsoft, and Telia Company. The initiative has attracted some of the top minds in academia focused on AI, coming from KTH, Karolinska Institutet, Lund, Umeå, and Linköping universities, as well as public agencies like Skatteverket, the Swedish tax authority.

The brief

The AI Sustainability Center needed to focus their message and establish an online presence before a formal launch in January 2019. They required several key communications tools, including a website, a leave-behind print piece and a social media presence. And they needed to do this with a small budget.

UP agreed to take the lead in supporting the AI Sustainability Center in refining their profile, which included fine tuning their Vision and Mission statements and positioning the still-to-be-launched company as a global player in the rapidly developing arena of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The approach

UP shared a Brand Questionnaire with the two founders of the organization and worked through the process to clarify their vision, mission and positioning statements. The process was streamlined and rapid as the launch date was approaching and several other tools needed to be in place before the launch.

As a small start-up organization, the AI Sustainability Center needed support with basics such as domain registration, website hosting, e-mail hosting, and design and delivery of business cards. UP also edited and designed promotional and sales material according to developing brand guidelines.

With only a small staff, the AI Sustainability Center needed to be able manage website updates on their own, so UP designed, developed and delivered a WordPress site that allows them to keep their content updated including with a blog. UP also set up a LinkedIn page, as well as designed and delivered business cards for the key founders.

The results

The branding questionnaire helped define and focus the messaging, which resulted in more effective vision and mission statements, as well as brand guidelines for UP as we completed the website.

The AI Sustainability Center website launch was received with acclaim by constituents and potential partners. On the day of the launch the site received 420 unique visitors. During the first two weeks the site received 1,319 visitors and 5,550 page views (14-31 January 2019).

During January, the AI Sustainability Center got 23,700 impressions on Twitter and gained 451 Twitter followers and 238 followers on LinkedIn. The AI Sustainability Center also successfully organized and participated in several technology leadership events raising the center’s profile in the first 2 months after launch.

UP will continue to support the on-going development of the brand strategy for the AI Sustainability Center, building upon the branding discussions we had with the founders in the early days of our project with them.