Billboard advertisements tout Indiana University

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana University has started hanging billboard advertisements along the highways running through the state's capitol to show what its graduates are doing for the state.\nLast week, 22 billboards that cost $35,000 went up in Marion County and will stay up for a month before another 22 replace them.\nLisa Townsend, IU's marketing director, said the university bought the billboards to raise awareness of its contributions and help increase support for higher education during the current legislative session.\nIU's campaign is another indication of mass media marketing efforts on which many of the state's public and private colleges have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.\nIn the past few years, universities around Indiana have put up billboards primarily to attract students and sharpen their image. Indiana State University has 14 billboards in the state. Purdue University has also begun a small campaign.\nColleges now are targeting the business community and lawmakers to show how colleges benefit the state.\nMost of IU's billboards say the university has 200,000 graduates living in Indiana, while highlighting a teacher, doctor, businessperson, forest ranger, research scientist or museum curator.