Case Study: City of Philadelphia achieves 11,449 opt-ins in 7 days for Pope Francis visit with Everbridge Community Engagement

Community Engagement in Philadelphia for Pope Francis’ Historic Visit

The Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, working with the Southeast Pennsylvania Task Force and Everbridge, prepared for Pope Francis’ 2015 visit amid an expected 1.5 million visitors and coordination across more than 70 agencies. The city needed a fast, scalable way to reach both residents and anonymous visitors to keep them safe and informed about logistics, traffic and weather during the event.

Philadelphia deployed Everbridge’s Nixle Community Engagement SMS solution (text PAPALVISIT to 888777) to drive opt‑ins and deliver real‑time alerts. In seven days the campaign generated 11,449 opt‑ins, earned local media attention and provided timely notifications to attendees—demonstrating a far quicker reach than years of social media growth and significantly improving the city’s event communications.

City of Philadelphia