Have you jumped on the podcasting bandwagon yet? Podcasting boomed in 2007 and it’s still growing. According to Arbitron, more than 23 million Americans downloaded and listened to a podcast last month (April 2008) alone. But it’s only been recently that franchise organizations have gotten excited about the possibilities.

What is podcasting? Podcasting is a multimedia file that is distributed via the Internet and played back on a computer or mobile device. Think iTunes or YouTube and you’ll get the idea. Like blogs, podcasts use RSS (Real Simple Syndication) to syndicate the content.
People can subscribe to any podcasts they want and have them automatically downloaded whenever a new program is uploaded.

This engaging communications tool can augment traditional face-to-face, print, and online media. Companies are using it for internal communications, investor relations, marketing, recruitment, training, and more. Here are 10 more ways you can grow your market and extend your reach with podcasting.

1. Lead generation—share expert information and peer testimonials.

2. Brand building—especially good for high-tech, progressive, or youth-oriented concepts.

3. CRM—build customer relationships and encourage a dialog.

4. Promotions—announce special offers, coupons, or rebates.

5. Training and seminars—quick and inexpensive for you; convenient for attendees.

6. New product releases—great as a mini-commercial or a product demonstration.

7. Customer education—tutorials and post-sale product information.

8. Public relations—interviews with key management, press conferences, and news feeds.

9. Company communications—inform employees, connect with franchisees, share trade show exhibit reports, and more.

10. Viral marketing—create buzz that out-performs traditional forms of advertising.

Hot Technology Tools for Your Franchise, Part 2

In this issue, we continue our look at some new and useful technologies that you can use today to boost results from your website. The Internet is a great place to do business, but it can also be very impersonal. Now you can bring life to your website with a virtual spokesperson—a borderless Internet video product that lets you speak to your website audience through a live person walking directly onto your website.

Erik Kretchmer of iSpeakVideo says, “Adding a virtual spokesperson to a website is only the beginning of the transition we will see from text to video based websites.” The company combines professional video production with state-of-the-art streaming flash to create dynamic video content. It can be added to any website, anywhere on the site.

Is this a complicated process? Not at all, says Kretchmer. “We use the one-stop-shop approach. All you have to do is select one of our experienced actors (there are 70 to choose from) and ok the script. We can use your script or have our copywriters write copy that really punches home your message. The video is shot in our production studio in Boca Raton, Florida. Lastly, our technology team encodes and then places each video onto your website or provides detailed instructions to your webmaster.”

A virtual spokesperson can introduce your concept, spice up your FAQ, guide traffic, lead a tutorial, or give a presentation. But this is more than a high-tech gimmick. In addition to providing a human touch that connects with customers, it can also drive them to action. “We have proven that this can increase conversion rates,” says Kretchmer. For example, Cruise Vacation Center wanted to brand itself as a premiere destination for the cruise industry. Talent and clothing were chosen based on the target market of the cruiser. The script was created to point out specific strengths of each cruise liner—a challenge, since each has a different appeal and slightly different demographics. The result was impressive: a 34.7% increase in conversion rates.

Considering the potential results, this is a very cost effective tool with prices starting at $900. That will buy you one spokesperson (any actor of your choice), a 45-second script, and implementation. There are also multiple video packs available for those who want to pepper their website throughout with video without breaking the bank.

For more info:
www.iSpeakVideo.com
Phone: 866-443-0862

June 30, 2008 - Goodbye UFOC!

By: James A. Wahl

Since 1993, the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (“UFOC”) has been the predominant format for providing pre-sale franchise disclosure information in the United States, accepted by all franchise registration states and approved by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). As of July 1, 2008 however, the UFOC will no longer be legal tender for franchise disclosure purposes. After nearly 12 years of rulemaking activity, the FTC issued a revised rule entitled “Disclosure Requirements and Prohibitions Concerning Franchising” (the “New FTC Rule”) in 2007. Ending a one-year phase-in period, the New FTC Rule’s Franchise Disclosure Document (“FDD”) format becomes the only permitted form of franchise disclosure on July 1.

Any franchisor that has not updated its UFOC to the FDD format and has not had the updated FDD document approved by the registration states by July 1 will be unable to legally offer or sell franchises. The FDD format requires document revisions and disclosure of new information in certain areas. Plus, many of the registration states are experiencing slower turn-around times on applications while familiarizing themselves with the FDD requirements.

For those who have not yet begun the redrafting process, some of the more significant areas in which the FDD format requires new or revised disclosures include:

• Item 3: All material civil actions involving the franchise relationship initiated by the franchisor during the previous fiscal year must be disclosed.

• Item 5: The definition of “Initial Fees” is expanded to include all pre-opening payments by the franchisee for goods or services provided by the franchisor or any affiliate.

• Item 11: There are several changes to the information that must be disclosed concerning training, advertising, computer system requirements and other franchisor obligations.

• Item 19: The title is changed to “Financial Performance Representations,” and specified negative disclosure language is required.

• Item 20: Tables showing status information for franchised and company-owned outlets have been revised, new tables added, and additional information on franchise status is required.

• Receipts: Contact information for all individuals involved in the franchise sale must be disclosed.

In addition to these and other new disclosure requirements, the FDD changes certain mechanics of the franchise disclosure process, including most notably the following:

• The “first personal meeting” and “ten business day” disclosure requirements are eliminated; the FDD must be provided at least 14 calendar days before agreements are signed or money is paid (note that some states still have a “first personal meeting” requirement).

• Delivery of the FDD in electronic form is expressly authorized.

• Exemptions have been added for franchises with an initial investment exceeding $1 million, for franchisees with a net worth exceeding $5 million, and for franchises sold to an owner, officer or manager of the franchisor.

To avoid having to suspend franchise sales, franchisors must have the new FDD in place and approved by registration states before July 1, 2008. Any franchisors that haven’t yet started the conversion process should begin immediately!

Jim Wahl is the Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property and Franchise Departments at Krass Monroe, P.A., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jim represents clients in all aspects of franchise, trademark, copyright and trade secret law, including trademark evaluation and clearance, branding issues, registration of trademarks and copyrights, franchising, licensing, technology, computer software, and enforcement of trademark, copyright, trade secret and related intellectual property rights. He has been recognized as a "Minnesota Super Lawyer" by Minnesota Law & Politics and a "Legal Eagle" by Franchise Times. He can be reached at 952-885-5991 or jwahl@krassmonroe.com.

Casual Chains Could Benefit From Rebates

Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Texas Roadhouse are expected to benefit most from increased consumer spending spurred by the federal stimulus rebate checks hitting bank accounts, according to a report this month from RBC Capital Markets Corp. restaurant analyst Larry Miller. In a note to investors, Miller said that based on a monthly in-house survey, consumers still plan to spend only one-third of their rebate checks on discretionary items, while two-thirds will be earmarked for savings or to pay down debt. Still, about 82 percent of the survey’s respondents said they would spend some portion of their check on eating out at a restaurant.

When asked which restaurants they would visit with their rebate checks, the top three vote getters were Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Texas Roadhouse, the report revealed. When the responses were adjusted to account for brand awareness and chain size, BJ’s Restaurants and The Cheesecake Factory were also among the top vote getters. According to the report, the larger and more value-oriented brands tended to score higher and consumers showed a preference for moderately priced, casual-dining restaurants as opposed to fast food. (Nation’s Restaurant News, 5/20/08)

New CEO for Dairy Queen

International Dairy Queen Inc., the Edina, Minnesota-based frozen-treat restaurant chain owned by Warren Buffett, announced this month that the company's chief executive, Chuck Mooty, will step aside effective July 1.His successor as president and CEO will be John Gainor, 51, who has been Dairy Queen's chief supply chain officer since joining the company in 2003.Mooty, 47, will remain chairman until the end of the year. He has led Dairy Queen since 2001 and has been with the company for 21 years.

Dairy Queen has been owned since 1998 by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the investment company owned by Buffett. The chain has been investing heavily in new store concepts (notably "Grill & Chill" stores), advertising and international expansion. (StarTribune.com, 5/7/08)

Robbins of Baskin-Robbins Passes Away at Age 90

Irvine "Irv" Robbins, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins treats chain and a pioneer of exotic ice cream flavors, died May 5th of complications related to old age. He was 90. Robbins grew up scooping ice cream at his family's dairy. In 1945, he opened his first cone shop, Snowbird Ice Cream in Glendale, Calif., offering 21 flavors. The following year, his brother-in-law Burton Baskin also opened a shop, Burton's Ice Cream, in Pasadena. Within three years, Robbins had five Snowbird locations and Baskin had three Burton's branches.

Robbins' father reportedly advised the two against running a business together because their individual creativity might be stifled. But the in-laws decided to combine their operations. In 1949, they purchased a dairy in Burbank, Calif., which gave them control over production. The two went on to franchise new stores, which helped them grow rapidly. In 1953, they renamed the company Baskin-Robbins, focusing on 31 flavors - one for each day of the month. By 1967, when the chain consisted of about 500 units, the partners sold the company to United Fruit Co., for an estimated $12 million. Baskin-Robbins now has more than 5,800 locations around the world. The brand is franchised by Dunkin' Brands Inc., the Canton, Mass.-based company that also franchises Dunkin' Donuts. (Nation's Restaurant News. 5/7/09)

Pollo Campero Opens Franchise in U.S. Wal-Mart Store

Pollo Campero, a Latin American fried-chicken favorite previously seen in the U.S. only in takeout boxes aboard arriving flights, has teamed up with Wal-Mart to expand its reach to the nation's growing Hispanic population. A restaurant bearing the Guatemalan chain's mascot chicken in a cowboy hat now sells its famed product inside a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rowlett, Texas. Officials with the chain's fledging U.S. arm, Campero USA Corp., hope to expand its reach into more than 20 Wal-Mart locations across the country by the end of 2009.

For the world's largest retailer Pollo Campero offers a new opportunity to reach out to its diverse range of shoppers as it customizes some aisles in its mammoth stores to sell culturally attuned products. Wal-Mart, which largely abandoned running its own restaurants inside its stores, now leases out space for companies such as McDonald’s Corp., Blimpie International Inc. and Subway. Recently, the company offered Camille’s Sidewalk Café, a Tulsa, Okla.-based chain serving healthy fast food, the opportunity to begin franchising its brand inside stores.
(Forbes.com, 5/12/08)

Carlson Hotels Sign 50 New Properties in First Quarter

Carlson Hotels Worldwide signed franchise or management agreements for more than 50 new properties in the first quarter of 2008. The new hotels and resorts span 19 countries, including one Regent hotel; 14 Radisson properties; two Rezidor managed Radisson hotels; 18 Country Inn & Suites by Carlson properties; six Park Plaza hotels; and ten Park Inn locations. Carlson's worldwide portfolio currently totals 990 hotels with nearly 149,500 rooms in 71 countries.
(Modern Agent, 5/8/08)


Fast Food Restaurants Grow in Popularity in Algeria

Fast food restaurants are opening up across Algeria, thanks to the change in people's eating habits. Algerians unwilling to spend hours at their dining tables for what they call "hefty" spreads are instead flocking to fast food restaurants for convenient, quick and affordable meals. The new businesses have become wildly popular over the past few years. It is now difficult to name a street in Algeria's major cities without a fast food spot frequented by residents, pedestrians and workers of all social strata.

Algeria is becoming increasingly receptive to fast food and other franchise businesses. A 2007 report from the International Franchise Association (IFA) noted "the increasing number of international franchise systems that have recently opened shop in Algeria, the majority of which originate from France". The explosion of fast food franchises and independent restaurants is also credited to Algeria's positive economic changes and investment incentives as well as to the reduced threat of terrorism faced by civilians. (Magharebia.com, 5/14/08)