Article

Boston bombing manhunt unfolds on digital billboards

Digital billboards in Boston playing a key role in keeping the public informed in a time of crisis.

April 19, 2013 by Christopher Hall

Massachusetts State Police and the FBI released photos mid-Thursday evening of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing. By the next morning the city had been engulfed in chaos, with residents told to stay home by the state's governor; one of the suspects was dead, killed in a gunfight with police; and digital billboards were an active component in keeping the public informed.

Within the hour of the first images' release, digital billboards owned by Clear Channel Outdoor Boston had images of the suspects up and displayed larger than life along Boston highways.

Not long after, a Boston university police officer was dead, apparently ambushed and shot to death by the two suspects. And then so was one of the suspects, who was killed in a gun battle with police following a car chase in which the suspects are said to have thrown explosives at their law enforcement pursuers.

Massachusetts public transit services around the city were cancelled, and residents Friday morning were told to stay home and stay out of danger — and digital billboards around the city were used to get that information out to the public.

This followed the billboards being used to update the public during Monday's initial attack, and continued a partnership between Clear Channel Outdoor Boston and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency highlighted earlier this year when the signs were used to spread information ahead of and during a blizzard.

(And interestingly enough, it's a partnership that appears to have gotten its start on Twitter, with Clear Channel Outdoor Boston tweeting then at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, @MassEMA, "We'd love to help w/ the approaching storm. Do you have emergency services messaging you'd like to post on our digital billboards?")

During the more recent crisis , the company's billboards also continued to solicit information from the public, and indeed it was a tip from an alert Bostonian that led to the eventual capture of the second bombing suspect.

The news of that capture also was sent out to the general public via the digital billboards, followed by a heartfelt "thank you" to law enforcement personnel.

The public-private partnership for public benefit here in Boston perhaps could and should serve as a very high-profile case study for how digital out-of-home can be a key factor in emergency management situations going forward.

Click here to see a photo gallery slideshow of images of Clear Channel Outdoor Boston digital billboards.

Learn more about digital billboards.