The flagship annual digital transformation summit of Ivory Coast, co-organised by the Ivorian employers’ confederation (CGECI), UNETEL, GOTIC, and Club DSI, with Ministry of Digital Transition support. Three editions. Three re-engagements. Full communication ownership each time.
The Situation
A Flagship National Event That Outgrew Its Digital Infrastructure
African Digital Week is one of the most institutionally significant tech events in West Africa. Government officials, enterprise leaders, tech founders, and international partners convene in Abidjan to address the digital future of the continent. The event carries national visibility and institutional weight.
The communication infrastructure did not match the ambition.
Each edition needed a complete communication system: brand identity, website, mobile app, social channels, print materials, live broadcast, and post-event wrap. All built from the ground up or rebuilt from the previous year. The digital presence of an event of this significance was being assembled reactively, not architected strategically. And every element had to be ready on a fixed, non-negotiable date.
The Diagnosis
The Problem Was Not Execution Speed. It Was Communication Architecture
A national summit with government co-sponsorship, four institutional organisers, and an international audience cannot be communicated the way a product launch or a brand campaign can. The stakeholders are different. The scrutiny is higher. The consequences of inconsistency, across print, digital, social, broadcast, and in-person, are institutional, not cosmetic.
ADW did not need faster delivery. It needed a single partner capable of owning the full communication lifecycle: strategy months before the event, real-time execution during it, and structured reporting after. No handoffs between agencies. No gaps between the brand system, the website, the app, the social channels, the live broadcast, and the printed materials. One architecture. One standard. One team accountable for every touchpoint.
A Complete Event Communication System — Three Times Over.
Solando delivered the full communication infrastructure for African Digital Week across ADW 2021, ADW 2022, and ADW 2024. Each edition rebuilt from the ground up to reflect the year’s theme, speakers, and strategic direction. The scope was the same every time. The standard compounded.
Brand Identity & Visual System
A complete charte graphique per edition: brand guidelines, visual identity framework, colour system, typography, and graphic design executed across every format. Each edition’s identity was distinct. The underlying design standard was consistent.
Event Website & Mobile App
A dedicated website and mobile application designed and developed per edition. Programme schedules, speaker profiles, venue logistics, partner listings, and live-day navigation, structured for the audience that would actually use them: institutional attendees, not casual browsers.
Marketing Strategy & Social Media Management
Full strategic communication framework per edition. Pre-event awareness, speaker and partner announcements, institutional messaging, audience building, managed across all social channels for 4 to 5 months before each event and 1 to 2 months after.
Live Coverage: Broadcast & Real-Time Social
YouTube live broadcast coordination and real-time social media coverage during the event. This is not scheduled content. It is synchronised, irreversible, public-facing execution under pressure: capturing, posting, and engaging while the event is happening. Solando managed both the broadcast feed and the social channels simultaneously across all three editions.
Print, Digital Assets & Event Magazine
Signage, banners, programmes, badges, and all digital formats, designed and produced for each edition. Plus the official event magazine: an editorial output that goes beyond digital execution. Layout, editorial production, and design for a premium print deliverable distributed to government officials, institutional partners, and international attendees.
Three Editions. One Standard. No Handoffs.
A unified communication system across every channel and every format : brand, web, app, social, print, broadcast, and editorial, for each edition of African Digital Week.
Institutional-grade consistency: every touchpoint reinforced the same positioning, whether a government minister encountered it on print, on screen, or on stage.
Real-time broadcast and social media coverage executed under live event pressure, three times, with the same reliability.
Three re-engagements across ADW 2021, ADW 2022, and ADW 2024. In the agency world, a client who returns twice is the strongest proof that the work delivered.
Verified performance numbers will be added once confirmed with the client.
