San Mateo's Lisa Catalano put her face on a dozen digital billboards along Highway 101 last fall to find a husband. She drew 4,000 applications and went on five first dates. Her boyfriend came from a dating app in January — he'd seen a billboard but never applied.

Last September, Lisa Catalano went up on Highway 101 — not in a crash, not a commute, but a campaign. The 42-year-old San Mateo resident paid for up to a dozen digital billboards running along US 101 from Santa Clara to South San Francisco, roughly 45 miles of the peninsula's commuter spine. The signs directed drivers to MarryLisa.com, where interested men could submit a dating application. She added taxi-top ads in San Francisco. The full project — billboards, taxi placements, photo and video shoots, wardrobe, merchandise — cost about $5,000, Catalano told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The response was not small. The site logged roughly a million page views within nine days of going viral. About 4,000 applications arrived; Catalano deemed 3,221 genuine, narrowed those to 20 finalists, and went on five first dates. None produced a match.

In January, she matched with someone on a dating app. He is a Bay Area resident, 35, who had seen one of her 101 billboards — but never submitted an application. She has asked that his identity be kept private.

This week, Catalano updated MarryLisa.com: applications are closed. She has a boyfriend.

The billboards ran through mid-February. The 45 miles of northbound 101 between Santa Clara and South San Francisco have since cycled to whoever booked the next digital slot.