The latest round of “I Chose UMSL” billboards features students, alumni and faculty paired to fit themes, such as Joanne Lee and Erin Baskett as performers. The campaign was featured in the May/June issue of CURRENTS magazine. (Photo by August Jennewein)

The latest iteration of the three-year-old “I Chose UMSL” campaign has proven successful with more than 1.15 million people viewing UMSL billboards each day. The campus community responded positively at more than a 10-to-1 ratio that the “billboards increase pride in UMSL,” according to the recent UMSL Media Survey. Now the Council for Advancement and Support of Education has taken notice with the article “Show your worth” in the May/June issue of its national magazine, CURRENTS.

“In the Show-Me State, the University of Missouri–St. Louis combines data driven digital marketing efforts crafted to people’s individual interests with an old-school approach – highway billboards,” wrote Caroline Mayer for CURRENTS.

In the article, Ron Gossen, senior associate vice chancellor and chief marketing officer at UMSL, called it an “ironically old-fashioned” tactic. But it’s also effective.

“More people than ever are attending our semi-annual open house, the critical first stop in getting people to enroll,” Gossen told CURRENTS.

In talking with UMSL Daily, he added, “The billboards are combined with other marketing tools and outstanding recruiting work to provide an effective synergy.”

UMSL Day attendance has risen to 1,200, a major increase from the event’s 400 attendees a few years earlier. CURRENTS has also highlighted those efforts in a past article.

Visit the CURRENTS website to read the “Show your worth” article.