JMMA Pitches CUTV Rebranding

Marketing Association Seeking to Develop Station’s New Marketing Plan

NewsAndrew Brennan — Published November 9, 2013 | Updated November 9, 2013 at 4:47pm

Members of Community University Television—formerly Concordia University Television—witnessed the first fruits of the partnership on Thursday when the JMMA squad assigned to CUTV pitched them some preliminary marketing strategies for the station.

“It’s always good to have an outsourcing look at the organization or business to get a better feeling of what problems they [sic] need help in,” said CUTV member Baghdig Balyan, who helped facilitate the meeting.

The JMMA squad’s presentation included collected sample data from the Concordia student body, which showed that many students had not even heard of the station—and if they did, believed it to be inaccessible and only for experienced filmmakers.

CUTV has existed in some capacity since 1969, but gained international attention for its live-streaming coverage throughout the student strike and its affiliated protests beginning last spring.

But managerial trouble and infighting among members led to staff being locked out of the offices and the station’s accounts being frozen by the university at the end of October last year.

The JMMA squad proposed a refocused CUTV, centred around the services it offers students, but also attempted to distance the station from any political affiliations by keeping the copyright of content squarely in the hands of the creator—something CUTV already does, according to board member Justine Smith.

According to JMMA squad member Laetitia Dandavino-Tardif, the slogan presented to the CUTV representatives at the meeting—“Learn it. Film it. Show it.”—will outline exactly “what CUTV will be.”

“First of all, you learn it; so you do the workshops, you get certified and you learn to use the equipment,” she said.

“Second of all, you go away […] and go and film whatever you want, and third you produce your video and you show it to anyone on your own Youtube channel, and it goes like that in a circle.”

The JMMA’s pitch included potential logo templates and a working website, but CUTV board member Antoine Marin explained to the JMMA squad the station was already working on one.
The next stage for both CUTV and its partnered JMMA squad is to reach an exact agreement on what, if any, marketing services will be performed by the JMMA.

Balyan told other CUTV members the best time for anything the JMMA works on to be unveiled would be at the start of winter semester, when students are back from holidays and are not saddled with exams.

Before any decisions can be made, however, Smith says CUTV board members not present for the meeting must be informed of the JMMA’s proposal.