Who exclusively maintains and administers the General Marketing Fund for Brightstar Care?
Brightstar_Care Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
We or our designee will exclusively maintain and administer a general marketing fund (the "General Marketing Fund). We have the right to use General Marketing Fund contributions to develop, produce, and distribute national, regional and/or local advertising and to create advertising materials and public relations which promote the Marks, other marks owned by us or our affiliates when the use of such other marks is associated with use of the Marks, and/or the products and services offered by BrightStar Care Agency Program franchisees (§8.1). We may use the General Marketing Fund to satisfy any and all costs of maintaining, administering, directing, preparing, and producing advertising, including the cost of preparing and producing television, radio, digital media, and print advertising campaigns; the cost of direct mail and outdoor billboard advertising; the direct cost of maintaining the toll-free call-in numbers for services and recruitment; the cost of public relations activities and advertising agencies; the cost of developing and maintaining an Internet website or websites (including costs of developing, maintaining, and integrating portions of such websites related to franchisees' employee recruiting and retention); the cost of developing and maintaining a social media presence; the costs of developing and operating a call center; the cost of developing new revenue streams for franchisees, including sales
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS, AND TRAINING (FDD pages 47–67)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Brightstar Care's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, Brightstar Care or its designee exclusively maintains and administers the General Marketing Fund. Brightstar Care has the right to use contributions to the General Marketing Fund to develop, produce, and distribute advertising on a national, regional, and/or local level. This includes creating advertising materials and public relations campaigns to promote Brightstar Care's marks, as well as the products and services offered by its franchisees.
Brightstar Care can use the General Marketing Fund to cover various costs related to advertising. These costs include preparing and producing advertising for television, radio, digital media, and print, as well as direct mail and billboard advertising. The fund can also be used to maintain toll-free call-in numbers, manage public relations activities, and pay advertising agencies. Additionally, Brightstar Care may use the fund to develop and maintain websites, social media presence, and call centers, as well as to develop new revenue streams for franchisees.
Brightstar Care has the authority to determine both the contributions to and the expenditures from the General Marketing Fund, as well as to select the advertising materials and programs. While Brightstar Care is expected to make a good faith effort to spend these funds in the best interests of the Brightstar Care Agency Program, it is not obligated to spend any amount in a franchisee's specific protected territory. Not all franchisees will directly or proportionally benefit from these expenditures. Brightstar Care can also use the fund to cover expenses related to directing the fund and its programs, including market research, public relations, creating marketing materials, and administrative costs such as salaries, taxes, travel, and franchisee conferences. The General Marketing Fund does not need to be audited, but Brightstar Care will provide an unaudited accounting of expenditures upon written request.