CM Life Advertising Department reflects on CNBAM success
Members of the Central Michigan Life Advertising Department proved determination can surpass experience at this year's College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers convention.
The team won first place for Best College Newspaper and 16 other awards for their mobile app, yearly sales increase and training program – and they did it with a predominately new group.
“We had to train completely new staff,” said Julie Bushart, advertising manager and a Redford senior. “Everybody brought new, fresh ideas.”
Having such a young staff allowed Bushart and the other managers to shape the school year in a way that could guarantee success.
Elise Pelletier, account executive, is new to the department and quickly learned the team’s presentation at CNBAM was an important goal to focus on. Pelletier works to sell space in the paper to local businesses and clients, and is excited about working with the paper in the future.
“You couldn’t even describe how amazing it was,” the Caro sophomore said. “We just have to keep doing what we’re doing. We have a lot of new things coming up like Social Café that I think will be something that sets us apart.”
After winning second place at last year’s CNBAM, members of the ad department made sure they met each of their quotas and kept an eye on their biggest competitors at other schools.
Advertising Manager Dan Haremski said he has been motivated to beat Kansas University, the team that took first place at last year’s convention, keeping the logo of their school in plain sight as a reminder all year.
A broadcasting and cinematic arts major, Haremski hopes to use the victory as a way to improve his resumé.
“We went down there with the intention of winning,” Haremski said. “As we started the awards ceremony, I wasn’t feeling like we had it, but as soon as Kansas got third I started getting a little nervous.”
Haremski and the rest of the team experienced an emotional win, and found unexpected support from many of the other schools present during the awards. Bushart said becoming close with the members of her team helped them to achieve their goals.
“This was our end goal,” Bushart said. “We wanted No. 1 and we worked so hard to get it.”
