Global Franchise 9.1

“I would love to see more franchise professionals get involved in advocacy and support pro-business political leaders” IN THE WORDS OF... Jack Monson “Brand stories should spotlight franchisees as heroes” The marketing maestro on next-level storytelling and his takeaways from the IFA convention Jack, thank you for doing such a great job of hosting our awards “It was my pleasure. Global Franchise had so many great brands nominated this year! It was a great honor to be a part of the show. This awards event has become the perfect kick off for IFA’s Annual Convention. I hope to see even more attendees join us in 2025 in Las Vegas.” What stood out for you at this year’s IFA event? “The IFA’s theme of Franchise Smarter and all the discussions about “responsible franchising” were definitely reflected in the Global Franchise Awards winning brands. I think we’re all past the days of celebrating franchise brands strictly based on sales figures without looking at other qualities of the system and leadership.” What excites you about our industry right now... “As usual, challenges in the economy are creating opportunities for small business owners. The dramatic increase of the number of multi-unit and multi-brand owners is an exciting development that I don’t see levelling off anytime soon.” ... And what progress would you like to see? While concerns over funding, real estate, and other economic issues can be overcome, the growing anti-franchising and anti-small business factions in much of the U.S. Government and in many states is a bigger challenge. The IFA is doing an admirable job in fighting these forces, but I would love to see more franchise professionals get involved in advocacy and support pro-business political leaders. Tell us why the Brand J and BizCom partnership is going to be awesome It’s hard to believe, but no agency in the franchise space has yet helped brands with paid, earned, shared, and owned media. BizCom & Brand J are now the first resource to fully support the PESO model and we’ve won many awards for our client work in each of these areas. We’re also very focused on boosting the personal branding of executives and influencers within a brand to give candidates someone to know, like, and trust. One of the best ways for franchise development leaders to share these stories is via short form videos that we create and push out daily to LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and more. This is a relatively new service for us which has taken off drastically in the past year and no one else is yet offering. Along with our long-form videos and podcasts, we’re now mixing in thought leadership content and publicity. BizCom is leading the industry here with its A-list of franchise professionals! What’s the secret to successful storytelling in franchise marketing? Storytelling by many franchise marketers is focused on the history of the brand. While these origin stories are fine for consumer marketing and branding, the focus of franchise development marketing – and indeed the hero of a franchise brand’s story – must be the franchisee. Potential owners want to see what their lives will be like if they partner with a particular brand. These are the stories we must share. WORK HISTORY Jack Monson is president at Brand J, recently merged with BizCom Associates, and host of Social Geek Radio podcast, having previously held leadership positions at multiple marketing firms. He’s active in the IFA as a member of the Supplier Forum Advisory Board and host of the IFA Franchise Voice podcast. Jack lives in Illinois and is a lifelong Chicago Bears and Chicago Cubs fan. GLOBAL FRANCHI SE AWARDS 22 GLOBAL FRANCHISE | ISSUE 9.1