April 7, 2020  Washington, DC—Capitol Outdoor (Capitol) and Smart City Media (SCM) announced a purpose driven partnership to immediately and proactively broadcast timely, relevant messages about the COVID-19 crisis through their shared out of home networks, at no cost to local and national public health agencies.

As cities and transit agencies navigate the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic, the Capitol and SCM partnership will utilize SCM’s Citypost platform to help public health officials conduct proactive outreach about testing sites and other vital information related to the pandemic. Citypost utilizes the massive amount of open data, including mobile applications, IoT sensors (Internet of Things), and social media, to drive smarter and more helpful engagement.

Beginning in Baltimore and the District of Columbia, Capitol will deploy its large format digital billboards to display nearby locations where coronavirus test kits are available. Data from Citypost will guide the location of the advertisements. Similarly, SCM used Citypost to begin broadcasting CDC and local community alerts last weekend through its network in Dallas, Kansas City, Jersey City and Greensboro.

“We want to use media in the most powerful and positive way possible, and this partnership does that,” said Capitol President Chris Tavlarides. “We want people to remember this time as a moment when we all came together, and we want our communities to emerge stronger because of how we communicated and cared for the needs of each other.”

“Outdoor media should be purpose-driven and impactful. We’re lucky to have a partner in Capitol Outdoor that shares that vision, while understanding that digital media can help solve the communication challenges that come along with the coronavirus crisis,” said SCM’s Tom Touchet. “Our immediate posting priorities will follow the public health specialists who say we need a huge expansion of testing and intensive preparations so that hospitals can function effectively as infections soar.”

The Citypost platform helps solve the three most important issues in any public health crisis: How to inform the public about critical aspects of the crisis; how to facilitate testing and diagnosis; and how to get care to those who need it (both face-to-face and virtual).

“Services like Citypost are invaluable to controlling the crisis and prevent the spread of the disease. Every effective communication saves lives, eases hospital system stress, and helps stop the outbreak from getting worse,” said Pete Celano, Director of Consumer Health Initiatives for Medstar Hospitals.

Both Capitol Outdoor and Smart City Media are also committed to highlighting additional community needs, including food programs, local information targeted for the elderly, and health services for the underserved.

SCM and Capitol also announced that on an ongoing basis, SCM will power content generation for Capitol through its Citypost platform. Capitol Outdoor will drive brand engagement and national ad sales for SCM.

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