Greenwood Village, Colo. – Off The Quad, a new digital media company honing in on the college lifestyle, announced the launch of its free, email-based publication at Indiana University yesterday. Catering to college students between the ages of 18 and 35, the subscription based email publication has targeted college campuses nationwide. Off The Quad’s (OTQ) once-a-day emails feature best-of recommendations on popular restaurants, stores, events, bars, music, movies, websites, and more, delivering the best of college life, daily. Indiana makes Off The Quad’s fifth market entrance and counting, since its national launch in early September.
“We’re very excited to expand our reach into Indiana University as we close up our first month of successful operations,” David Rich, CEO and founder of Off The Quad, states. “We’re very pleased with the growth of our subscriber base as we see our email open rates demonstrate that we’re really connecting with our readership.”
In addition to its email publication, Off The Quad features a dedicated website, located at http://www.offthequad.com, which supplements the content of its once-a-day emails. Here, readers can sign-up for Off The Quad’s local and national editions. However, as college readers continue the conversation online, Off The Quad’s social media channels are growing, including Facebook (www.facebook.com/offthequad) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/offthequad).
Founded by David Rich in January 2010, Off The Quad got its start at the University of Colorado. Here, David bootstrapped a pilot program, finding promising success. With this encouraging evidence, David entered Off The Quad in the Annual 2010 Florida Atlantic University Business Plan Competition. Competing among 133 businesses, David earned first place in his track. This victory, coupled with the success of Off The Quad’s pilot program, gained the attention of several entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists. In July 2010, David secured $450,000 in funding for the company’s national launch. With plans to expand to as many as 50 additional college markets in 2011, Off The Quad is poised to quickly dominate a void for the U.S. college student.
Findings released in July of this year from Alloy Media + Marketing’s 10th Annual College Explorer Study, show 16 million college students between the ages of 18-34 enrolling this Fall with an unprecedented $306 billion in projected spending power, up 13% from last year’s estimates. The study also projects a 10% increase in discretionary spending, for what they deem “must haves”, rising to an estimated $69 billion. According to Alloy, the current college population is now the largest college class ever, on record.
Prior to launching Off The Quad, David was the owner and sole manager of Overtime Marketing Group, LLC, a marketing consultancy and software developer of social networking, communication, CRM, and management software since 2004. Throughout his career, David has provided marketing and business development consulting to clients across a broad range of industries, including clients such as BMW, Travelpro Luggage, Jarden Consumer Solutions, STP Tools, and 3M during two stints with agencies since 2003, including Octagon North America. David has a BA in Political Science from the University of Colorado and is nearing completion of a Masters of Accounting at Florida Atlantic University.
About Off The Quad
In a new take on the hyper-local trend, Off The Quad is an emerging digital media company with a free, daily, email-based publication, featuring must-have recommendations for college students nationwide. Its witty, to-the-point tips on all things lifestyle, events, and entertainment provide college students with the inside scoop on the best restaurants, stores, events, bar specials, movies, websites, and more. Students from Penn State to Southern Cal can tap into Off The Quad through its once-a-day, localized email editions, website, social media channels, and more. For more information on Off The Quad, visit http://www.offthequad.com.
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