Nearly four million Metroplex drivers got an eyeful of UTA this summer via 11 outdoor billboards on major state and interstate highways in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They're getting an earful via radio spots on all-news station KRLD (1080 AM) and on WRR (101.1 FM).

This billboard along Interstate 30 between Arlington and Dallas was one of 11 that appeared this summer alongside major highways throughout the Metroplex area. The billboards are part of a campaign to raise awareness of UTA that includes radio spots as well as advertisements in national magazines, in malls and on buses.

Ads have been purchased on Fort Worth buses and on billboards in The Parks at Arlington mall, the largest mall in Tarrant County.

UTA was featured three times in 2001 and 2002 in Newsweek, Time and U.S. News & World Report's regional editions and this fall will be in a number of national business publications, including Inc., Money, FastTimes, Fortune, Business Week, Mutual Funds, FSP and Fast Company.

The College of Business Administration was featured in D Magazine's July issue that spotlighted North Texas business schools—in an ad, story and photo. UTA ads have also appeared in higher education sections of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Business Press, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Business Journal and Fort Worth magazine.

The ads and stories are part of a campaign to raise awareness. "Expect Great Things" is the theme. The UTA Web site is included, as is a photo of UTA student Meredith Faltermeier.

Cooksey Communications of Dallas and the UTA Public Affairs Office are coordinating the campaign. Alumnus Michael Landon ('80 BFA) provided much of the creative graphics.

"We have many messages to communicate, but the first needs to be an overall awareness of who UTA is and what it stands for," said Gail Cooksey, president and chief executive officer of Cooksey Communications. "The position that we want to 'own' in the marketplace is that we connect students to jobs. Our location in the heart of the Metroplex makes that possible. We also want to communicate academic excellence and accessibility. You will see many messages unfold over the next year."

The billboards were located alongside several major highways, including Interstate 35 in Fort Worth, Highway 121 between Fort Worth and Hurst, Interstate 20 in Dallas, Highway 360 in Arlington, and Interstate 30 in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and Grand Prairie.

The print UTA ad last spring won a national award from The Communicators, an international organization that recognizes outstanding work in the communications field.

"U.T. Arlington has a great story to tell, and we're telling it," said UTA President Robert E. Witt.

Or, as one alumna summed up the ad campaign—"so much for being anybody's 'best kept secret!' "

-DD