From the
editor’s
desk
BY Kerry Pipes
and Eddy Goldberg
Franchise
update|Q2
Q2 2011
Executive Vice President
& Publisher
Steve Olson
President
Therese Thilgen
CEO
Gary Gardner
C
Transformation!
hange is inevitable. It also is
exciting. This is the atmosphere we’ve been breathing
at Franchise Update Media
Group over the last several months as we
redesigned our flagship publication, Franchise Update magazine. It doesn’t just look
different, it is different. On the design
side, we’ve given it a facelift. On the content side, we’ve expanded and reorganized
the magazine into three distinct sections:
Leadership, Growth (sales and development), and Consumer Marketing.
Beginning with this issue we’ve added
two new sections: Leadership and Consumer Marketing. Times have changed,
your needs have changed, and we’re responding. You asked, we listened.
• Lead! Without strong leadership, no
franchise brand or concept will go very far.
The best franchise prospects and candidates
are looking for a solid, proven system to
invest their hopes, dreams, and hard-earned
savings in. If you don’t have it, they’ll find
someone who does. Look for leadership
insights from top CEOs and presidents
in every issue, along with guest columnists
and leadership gurus who will share their
insights and expertise about winning leadership techniques. Our first two interviews
are with Paul Damico, president of Moe’s
Southwest Grill and Shelly Sun, founder
and CEO of BrightStar Care.
• Market! Great concept, great sales
team? Great! All you need now is customers—loyal, engaged, repeat customers. And
unless you’ve been in a cave the past three
years, you know that social media and Web
2.0 have changed the face of consumer marketing. Today, your brand is being built by
4
Franchiseupdate Iss u e II, 2 0 1 1
what’s being said online—and franchisors
and franchisees alike are searching for insights (or even clues!) as they deal with the
shift to consumer-generated content. Learn
how social pioneer Naked Pizza changed its
street sign to its Twitter handle and grew
from one small store in New Orleans to
h ]