Crowd communication
Control over crowds with our unique crowd communication system
HOW IT WORKS
Fast and clear communication right where it’s needed
Our crowd communication system lets us inform and warn visitors quickly and clearly. We position screens at tactical spots and control them individually and wirelessly from a central control room. Our crowd communication system has three main functions:
- Safety and emergency announcements
- Dynamic signage and wayfinding
- Visitor information
hikers
Meet our Hikers
Especially for our crowd communication system we developed the Hiker in-house. These 6 mm LED screens, positioned on a concrete base, are equipped with highly advanced technology. With our own steady wireless connection we control dozens of screens from one central point — without depending on 3G or 4G.
What’s more, our Hikers have a back-up for everything: double wiring, double wireless connection, alternative wireless control and even back-up power. That’s why we guarantee 100% reliability.
messages
Examples of crowd communication messages
photos
Our Crowd Communication system in action
benefits
The benefits of our crowd communication system
Warnings in emergencies
In an incident or emergency you communicate quickly and clearly with a large audience.
Information
Besides safety messages, our system can also inform visitors about the programme, the weather, public transport and more.
Control over crowd flows
With dynamic signage you steer crowd flows, preventing overcrowding in streets, squares and festival areas.
Individual control
From the control room you drive each screen individually, so you can inform and warn precisely per location..
Entertainment and engagement
When the system isn’t being used for information or warnings, it can also display commercial messages, broadcasts or live footage.
A back-up for everything
Our system is redundant and vandal-resistant, with back-up power — so we keep informing visitors even if technology fails.
cases
How others use our crowd communication system
Notting Hill Carnival is one of the largest street festivals in the world — and the biggest in Europe. On 24 and 25 August 2025, close to two million people filled the streets of West London to celebrate Caribbean culture.
(more…)
The British Grand Prix is one of the largest sporting events in the UK. In 2025, Silverstone welcomed 500,000 people through its gates across the race weekend of 4-6 July — a figure the circuit published itself. The hardest moment of an event that size is not the arrival. It is the exit: a few hundred thousand people deciding to leave at roughly the same time, most of them heading for a shuttle bus.
The Nijmegen Four Days Marches (Vierdaagsefeesten) are the largest free festival in the Netherlands — and the birthplace of crowd communication. Every year, more than 2.1 million visitors come to the city. Guiding that many people safely and smoothly through the city centre calls for clear, real-time communication. That is why the organisation brought in crowd communication from CrowdCows. (more…)
Crowd communication: control over large visitor flows
Crowd communication is the targeted informing and steering of large visitor flows through clear, well-timed communication. It is the smart layer on top of crowd management: not a replacement for fences, routes and security, but an addition that makes them more effective. Not forcing, but steering smarter.
That is why CrowdCows developed the Integrated Crowd Communication System (ICCS): a combination of technology and behavioural psychology that lets organisers inform and adjust visitors in real time. Developed in practice — at events, stations and in cities where large numbers of people come together. Our goal is always the same: less resistance from visitors, a greater sense of safety and a better experience.
Planning a site with large visitor flows?
Request a free scope check. Send us your site plan or event schedule; we reply by email with what we have seen work at festivals, stadiums and city events. You get two or three concrete things to check — whether or not you ever work with us.
Where we apply crowd communication
- Large festivals and events — from dance to metal, single- and multi-day events.
- Sports and entertainment events — with peak moments and large in- and outflows.
- Municipalities and city centres — events in public space and busy inner cities.
- Transport hubs and stations — passenger flow and access communication.
- Permanent venues and high-traffic locations — where safety is an ongoing responsibility.
We have worked for festivals and concerts — the Four Days Marches in Nijmegen, Mysteryland, Wacken Open Air, Zwarte Cross, Parookaville, Lollapalooza Berlin, Paléo and Adele in Munich — for sporting events such as Formula 1 in Zandvoort and Silverstone, for city events such as the Notting Hill Carnival and Sail Amsterdam 2025, for transport hubs such as Dutch Railways (NS), and for brand events such as Škoda in the Czech Republic. At the Four Days Marches, the festival’s own visitor survey found that 96% of visitors felt ‘often to always’ safe. Our HIKERs carry the communication across the city throughout the event.
Operating in the UK? Our Martyn’s Law Communication Readiness Checklist is a five-minute self-check on the communication procedure. Get the checklist →
What is crowd communication?
The difference is in the approach. Not forcing, but convincing. Not only intervening when things go wrong, but adjusting behaviour before they do. That makes crowd communication not a replacement for crowd management, but the smart layer on top that makes it more effective.
How does the Integrated Crowd Communication System (ICCS) work?
We place our HIKERs — robust LED screens on a concrete base — at tactical spots on the site, in the city or at a station. From one central control room we drive each screen individually and wirelessly. This lets you show different messages in different places, exactly where they are needed.
The system is deliberately built for situations where mistakes have major consequences: redundant, vandal-resistant and equipped with backup power, so communication keeps working even if technology fails. In an emergency, safety messages automatically override all other content on the screens.
How do you steer behaviour without force?
We apply insights from behavioural psychology — priming, nudging and framing — to shape messages so they unconsciously trigger the right response. A route that is not only correct but also feels intuitive. A warning that brings calm instead of sowing panic. This combination of reliable hardware and well-considered neuropsychology is what makes crowd communication demonstrably more effective than a standard announcement or sign.
Safety and visitor experience: how do they reinforce each other?
The beauty is that the two reinforce each other. A visitor who feels well informed behaves more calmly and predictably. Better communication therefore makes an event safer and more pleasant at the same time.
How does your crowd communication system help with Martyn's Law?
Martyn’s Law expects many UK venues and events to have clear procedures for warning and directing the public during an incident. Our Integrated Crowd Communication System (ICCS) lets you push real-time instructions — evacuation routes, safety messages, live status updates — to large crowds via video, so your communication plan is ready when it matters most. Learn how it fits together in our Martin’s Law guide
Which scenarios should your crowd communication cover?
A plan should span ten categories, from pre-event through to dispersal. Read the ten scenario categories and the design reasoning behind each, and use them to check your own coverage.
How do you evidence your communication procedure?
By showing that a plan exists and works in practice. Read what counts as evidence, and how everyday use of the same channel builds that record for you.
Why does a message that works on paper fail in a crowd?
Because a message written for a careful reader is read differently by people in motion. Read the psychology behind a message that moves a crowd: how tone decides whether people cooperate or resist, and where we draw the line on what we will and will not influence.
What is the difference between crowd communication and crowd management?
Does crowd communication also work during emergencies?
What is a HIKER?
Who is crowd communication suitable for?
Why communication instead of more control?
CONTACT
Request a free scope check
Tell us briefly about your venue or event. We reply within one working day by email with a short written scope check: which scenarios your site needs to cover, what message goes where, and what that takes in practice. A call is optional. Whether you act on it is entirely up to you.
