Microsoft Ad Offers UNC Free Publicity

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hillis getting $3 million worth of publicity for free.

Ads promoting Microsofts' Web site are appearing in magazines across the nation, and the Tarheel influence is overwhelming.

"I could not believe how much Carolina stuff there was in the ad," says Nancy Davis, UNC's Vice Chancellor of University Relations.

Davis doesn't think the ad will lead to a flood of applications, but it will raise national awareness of Carolina.

"Maybe more students will write to Carolina with an interest in coming to UNC and they'll just take an extra look at us as a result," Davis says.

The school was chosen because of its athletic and academic reputation.

UNC Staff Member Rick Osha thinks the ad is pretty slick and very appealing.

"It just seemed probably to hit all the right resonances for the technologically hip and the with-it dad type person," Osha says.

Microsoft paid a nominal fee to use the UNC logo; that money will be used for scholarships.