Quinnipiac University celebrated the launch of their new national brand campaign, “Ambition Unleashed,” with a buzzing piazza full of students receiving new school merchandise.

The Vice President of Marketing and Communications Daryl Richard came up with this idea to embody the energy at Quinnipiac.

“​​It is really our way that we are going to help differentiate and build national distinction for the university and the amazing qualities that we offer to our students,” Richard said. “Then also what’s so amazing about the faculty and staff that work here that help our students really set themselves up for careers that have both purpose and impact.”

The marketing and communications team began preparation for a new campaign last year. They had conversations with students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and even prospective students and also received survey responses from over 17,000 people.

“We did a lot of focus groups as well as brainstorming sessions with current Quinnipiac students and one of the things that came out really clear was interesting feedback that several students said everyone has potential, but ambition is defined by someone able to really be determined to focus on and pursue their goals,” Richard said. “A light bulb went off when we heard that and it really crystallized part of this campaign.”

Along with Richard, the Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications Jim Ryan also played a role in this campaign coming to life. Ryan graduated from Quinnipiac in 2002 when the school was still a small college of 3,000 with Division II athletics.

For the campaign, Richard and Ryan used human-centered storytelling, where they could focus the story on the students and community members at Quinnipiac.

“​​What is really unique about this campaign is every person has a personal ambition so it’s both an individual trait as well as a shared experience across our community,” Ryan said.

For the launch, over a dozen students were selected to share their stories about their ambitions and what made them choose Quinnipiac. The marketing and communications team is hoping to feature many more students, faculty and staff this semester and in the future in this national campaign.

“This campaign is going to be at its most effective when we are telling the story of our people and I think that’s where we are really looking for the partnership of our community, our students, our faculty, our staff to come forward and tell us what’s so interesting about their ambitions and how we can partner with them to help unlock those ambitions,” Ryan said.

Students can expect the campaign to be brought into many aspects of campus including tours, events, speakers and student organizations and clubs.

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