Your daily franchising briefing, covering the biggest stories and essential updates.
GF Podcast: Zack Fishman, Fishman PR
On the latest episode of the Global Franchise Podcast, we spoke to Zack Fishman, director of innovation at Fishman PR, about the ways in which businesses could approach their crisis marketing in an authentic and measured way.
“At the beginning, nobody really knew what to do. For us, we had to come up with a COVID-19 action crisis plan that our COO could graciously put together on the fly,” said Fishman. “That helped a lot, because she had experience dealing with crises in the past, and we do offer crisis PR so we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to offer – that’s what our clients utilized us for in the first couple of weeks.”
To listen to the full conversation, and to check out our other episodes with franchising professionals, make sure to visit globalfranchisemagazine.com/podcast.
Koala Insulation launches a national U.S. franchise growth initiative
Koala Insulation, an emerging franchise brand in the $52bn insulation industry, announced its strategic franchise growth initiative, which sees the brand planning to add 200 franchise licenses to its network across the next 12 months.
“The Koala Insulation franchise model is appealing to today’s entrepreneurs for several reasons, including the fact that our industry is recession-resistant and growing at a rate of nearly six per cent annually,” said Scott Marr, CEO. “Our franchisees benefit from the way we’ve leveraged technology to not only improve efficiency and the customer experience, but also drive leads. Additionally, our mobile concept allows franchisees to manage their business from home — escaping many of the costs generally associated with running a business and empowering them to enjoy a favorable work-life balance.”
Big Blue Swim School awards four new franchise deals
Despite many brands having to focus on their current network and forgo continual expansion during these unprecedented times, Big Blue Swim School, the swimming education franchise, awarded four new franchise deals in March 2020, totaling 14 new units for the brand. This marks 22 new units signed in 2020, which accelerates Big Blue Swim School’s goal of franchising to 150 pools by 2021.
“Despite the challenges that people and businesses are facing right now, Big Blue Swim School remains an incredibly compelling business opportunity,” said Scott Thompson, chief development officer. “Teaching children to swim is a vital life skill, and is something parents will need regardless of the economic climate. We are seeing incredible interest from qualified franchise partners in markets across the U.S.”
Little Kickers offering free online daily classes
The Global Franchise Champion Award winner Little Kickers has made sure that its tens of thousands of students can still engage with its soccer-centric curriculum by offering free daily online classes. Like the regular franchise offering, Little Kickers’ online classes introduce children to numerous fitness concepts through fun games and learning activities.
Razzamataz Theatre Schools to offer a webinar for prospective franchisees
Razzamataz, the U.K.-based education franchise specializing in acting and the theatre, will be running a ‘Discovery Den’ webinar on Wednesday, April 15, at 7pm GMT. The webinar is free to anyone who wishes to learn more about the franchising model, and will allow the brand to share its 20 years of experience with potential new investors.
“This is a very scary time for a lot of people and although now may not be the right time to make big financial decisions, this is an opportunity to do as much research as possible into the options out there for the future,” says Denise Hutton-Gosney, MD and founder. “We would love to share our knowledge about what it means to be part of a franchise, who franchising can work for and why it is not necessary to have any experience to be successful.”
