[media-credit name=”Screenshot courtesy of Quinnipiac University Department of Branding and Strategy ” align=”aligncenter” width=”500″][/media-credit]

The biggest question for prospective students when applying for higher education is “what am I buying?” Quinnipiac’s Brand Strategy and Integrated Marketing Communications team set out to answer this question directly on their newly branded website that will be released on or before Nov. 3.

With the launch of its new website, Quinnipiac is planning to show the public the value of its education directly on the website, according to Vice President of Brand Strategy and Integrated Communications Keith Rhodes.

Rhodes (‘92) has returned to Quinnipiac to challenge conventions in the higher education industry. The website that is currently in place fails to answer the question, “Why would I come here? Or what am I buying?” according to Rhodes.

“Nowhere else in the world do you buy something when you’re not sure of what you are buying,” Rhodes said. “You can look at the campus, but that is not the product. Your degree is the product.”
Quinnipiac is one of the very first in higher education to build a website on Adobe Marketing Cloud, according to Rhodes.

“This is the same technology that runs most of Fortune 500 companies in the country,” Rhodes said.
Quinnipiac has coined and copyrighted the term “a world-sized classroom” for their exclusive use. The concept of a world-sized classroom exemplifies all of the practice and experience students will get from an education at Quinnipiac.

“It is the opportunity of going out and getting your hands dirty in labs, clinics and study abroad,” Rhodes said.

Sophomore psychology major Morgan Brandt thinks it would have been nice to have her input as a student put into the decision making process of the new branding strategy.

“I feel that it was kind of sudden, they [Residential Life] kind of just changed it and they’re not really taking our perspectives on it that much,” Brandt said. “I don’t think they’d consider going back to the old [logo] and the capitalized ‘U.’”

The university underwent this change in logo and website to make themselves more known, according to Brandt.

“Last year with the hockey season we became more known and now they just want to become Quinnipiac and not just have it about the hockey team,” Brandt said.

The goal for the new website is simplicity, according to Rhodes. The current website has over 4,000 unique webpages. The new website will consist of 300 webpages which will result in a 92 percent reduction in total pages on the website, according to Rhodes.

“You’re going to see a heavy emphasis on the professions in the website. We really want to emphasize people doing things. We’re trying to minimize anyone sitting in a classroom staring at a board,” Rhodes said.

The plan for the new website combines the university’s new brand strategy and identity with its very best user experience design and marketing technology. This creates an unprecedented university web experience that will further differentiate Quinnipiac and build greater interest and favorability among prospective students, according to the press release posted on MyQ Tuesday Oct. 18.

Junior Tiffani DiNicola finds the idea of a new website interesting.
“I think that they want Quinnipiac to be more distinguished and Ivy League like Yale,” DiNicola said. “I hope [new website] is informational, not confusing, and easy to follow.”

[media-credit name=”Screenshot courtesy of Quinnipiac University Department of Branding and Strategy” align=”aligncenter” width=”500″][/media-credit]

The website will have features that allow users to see the student success rate in a way that compares Quinnipiac’s percentages to the national averages for private schools. This idea was developed with the entire cabinet of the university including the academic deans and the office of admissions, according to Rhodes.

Most institutions have their webpages set up in an “institution first” type format. Meaning the web pages are structured around the institution with an alumni page, a development page, and a president’s message appearing on the homepage, according to Rhodes.

“We’ve thrown out that institution first model completely, we are user centric. Our goal is to make Quinnipiac a first choice for more students,” Rhodes said.

CORRECTION: This article was corrected to include the right date for the website launch. The website will be launching on or before Nov. 3, not Nov. 20.