Everyone knows them as part of the cityscape: the advertising pillar. Around 25,000 of them are spread widely across German cities and have mainly been used as advertising media to date. emergenCITY researchers see new potential for this old medium. They want to digitize the advertising pillar and use it for communication during crisis events, for example lasting blackouts. In detail, the advertising pillar 4.0 will be equipped with an LED ring on the pillar that is powered autonomously by solar energy. It can display messages in the event of a crisis. A warning light is also to be integrated, and a siren function is being tested.

emergenCITY’s partner for the realization of this project is the advertising marketer Ströer, which operates the German advertising pillars, among other things. They recently signed a cooperation agreement with emergenCITY to develop a prototype. “We immediately approached emergenCITY to cooperate because we have also been talking to various authorities for years about how we can provide support in the event of a complete blackout and continue to warn the population,” says Michael Schmid, Head of Research & Development at Ströer, explaining the background to the project.

The signing of the contract between Ströer and emergenCITY and the announcement of the development of a prototype have caused quite a stir in the media. FFH-Radio published a report with a statement by Herrmann Meyersick, Ströer’s Managing Director for Public Affairs in Germany, and hr-Radio also reported. Further articles appeared in the Darmstädter Echo, in the Frankfurter Rundschau and in the FAZ. More technical details can be found in the article of invides, the magazine for digital signage, as well as in Ströer’s own blog post. Background information on the idea of the advertising pillar 4.0 and the signing event is provided by emergenCITY.