Recent Oakland University alumnus Eric Franchy has bolstered his academic skills into a new business designed to bring entertainment and media to the university community.
The 2011 marketing graduate created Cruz Thru Media to establish a DVD and video game rental kiosk, located near the Café o’ Bears in the Oakland Center.
“My initial goal is to establish awareness of Cruz Thru Media throughout the OU campus community,” Franchy said. “I want the community to recognize Cruz Thru Media as the most convenient and cost-effective entertainment source and ultimately adopt it as their go-to option for new and past releases. In the future I hope to expand Cruz Thru Media into a sustainable network of kiosks.”
As a student, Franchy was a member of the OU chapter of the American Marketing Association, worked as a telefund caller for Annual University Giving Fund and served as a marketing assistant for the Office of Strategic Programs. Each of these experiences contributed to the initial success of Franchy’s business.
Franchy considered other venues and conducted extensive market research before determining on the university setting for his business.
“A university seemed attractive to me as a potential market because it sees such a high volume of traffic everyday,” Franchy continued.
“From students, faculty and all the staff in between, there is a great potential for interest in using a self-service DVD rental kiosk. It's a quick, easy and affordable way to experience a movie. The majority of these groups are on campus multiple times throughout the week, which makes renting from Cruz Thru Media extremely convenient for them.”
The on-campus kiosk allows students to rent and return movies alongside their class schedule, and offers an inexpensive source of entertainment for breaks between classes.
The Cruz Thru Media kiosk opened this November, and currently contains more than 120 titles. Some videos games are also available for Xbox 360, including Call of Duty Black Ops 2 and Halo 4. DVDs can be rented for $1.25 each.
“Oakland University was particularly attractive just because I enjoyed being on campus, both as a student and as an employee,” Franchy said. “I was encouraged when the results of a small survey I administered to randomly selected OU members showed an interest in such a service.”
Recent OU alumnus Eric Franchy has bolstered his academic skills into a new business designed to bring entertainment and media to the university community.
Created by Katherine Land - Deleted (land@oakland.edu) on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 Modified by Katherine Land - Deleted (land@oakland.edu) on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 Article Start Date: Tuesday, December 11, 2012
