Thatcher+Co. was charged with building anticipation for the inaugural Next Einstein Forum’s Global Gathering in Dakar, Senegal on March 8-10, 2016 – the first-ever global science and tech forum on the continent. Uniting hundreds of distinguished scientific thinkers and stakeholders from around the world, the three-day event was hosted by President H.E. Macky Sall of Senegal alongside Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

With just eight weeks at hand, the team realized an incredible feat – propelling Africa’s scientific community onto the global stage.

Ensuing coverage made significant strides in raising the stature of NEF’s leadership team and fellows, highlighting the thought leadership of NEF spokespersons, helping NEF increase its social media presence, and disseminating NEF digital content.

In total, media coverage resulted in more than 250 distinct media placements across print, broadcast, online and social media.

On target messaging of NEF resulted in global/ regional top-tier coverage including placements in the Associated Press, CNN Marketplace Africa, The Economist, Agence France Presse, Al Jazeera English, BBC World Service, Jeune Afrique, The Huffington Post and more. In-depth, positive and provocative coverage was also featured in SciDev. net, Nature, Sciences et Avenir and others.

Thatcher+Co. social media efforts also catapulted NEF’s online engagement to the next level thanks to a coordinated month long strategy which included 3 Twitter and Facebook chats hosted by Voice of America and BBC Africa. NEF amplified its online voice and expanded its brand recognition earning a total of 2,378 Twitter followers, increasing from its former audience of 1,229 by 93%. During this period, Twitter impressions soared 488%, from 4,500 to 26,500, and retweets also increased substantially from 13 to 89.

In addition, media attendance at the GG2016 was significant with more than 120 members of the press on–site over the three-day period.