What section of the Card My Yard Franchise Agreement outlines the franchisee's obligations regarding advertising?
Card_My_Yard Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
ainst your Grand Opening marketing requirements.
Local Advertising
Throughout the term of your Franchise Agreement, you must complete at least 24 promotional yard greeting services each year in your local market. In addition, you must spend the following amounts annually on local advertising: (a) $300 in the first 12 months of your agreement, (b) $500 in months 13 through 24, and (c) $800 in each 12-month period thereafter. These amounts must be spent on advertising and promotion of the Card My Yard business in the Protected Area (See Item 12 for a description of the Protected Area). In addition to local spending requirements, you must post at least 5 promotional messages on both Facebook and Instagram each week.
If requested, you must submit to us any reports (including substantiating receipts) detailing your local advertising expenditures that we may require. We may reallocate the proportion of those monies directed to local advertising (individually or through a Cooperative) and to the Marketing Fund. (Franchise Agreement, Section IX.) Provided that all discounted or donated yard greeting services are properly recorded and reported using the Card My Yard e-commerce system, we will permit you to offer a reasonable number of discounted or donated yard greeting services from time to time and credit the discounted amounts applicable to those services against your local marketing requirements.
All advertising and promotions you place in any medium must be conducted professionally, must conform to our standards and requirements and must be approved by us before use, as described in Item 8.
You may not advertise, promote, post any information relating to the Card My Yard business that is misleading or reflects negatively on the Card My Yard brand in any way. You are authorized to advertise, promote, and post approved information relating to the Card My Yard business on the Internet through posts on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc., but we may, at our option, require you to immediately remove and delete any posts or other materials that we deem, in our sole discretion, to be misleading or reflecting negatively on the Card My Yard brand, and we may include information about your Card My Yard business on our website in our sole discretion.
We can designate any geographic area in which 2 or more company-owned or franchised Card My Yard businesses are located as a region for an advertising cooperative ("Cooperative"). We may require Cooperatives to
| s. Inspections and audits | Franchise Agreement Sections III., VI., | Items 6, 8 and 11 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIII. and XII. | |||
| t. Transfer | Franchise Agreement Section XV. | Items 6, 12 and 17 | |
| u. Renewal | Franchise Agreement Section IV. | Items 6, 12 and 17 | |
| v. Post-termination obligations | Franchise Agreement Section XIX. | Item 17 | |
| w. Non-competition covenants | Franchise Agreement Section XI. and Exhibit B | Item 17 | |
| x. Dispute resolution | Franchise Agreement Section XX.F. | Item 17 | organized and governed as we determine. Any Cooperatives we authorize will be for the exclusive purpose of administering advertising programs and developing promotional materials for members in local advertising. If a Cooperative is established for an area that includes your Protected Area, you must become a member of the Cooperative and participate in the Cooperative by contributing the amounts required by the Cooperative's governing documents. Your Cooperative contributions will be in addition to your required individual local marketing spend requirements. No portion of your Cooperative contributions will be credited against your individual local advertising requirements. If we have company-owned Card My Yard businesses that are included in your Cooperative territory, those company-owned Card My Yard businesses will not have power to increase your required Cooperative contributions without a majority vote of the franchisee members of the Cooperative. You must also submit to the Cooperative and to us all statements and reports that we, or the Cooperative, may require. Cooperative contributions will be maintained and administered under the Cooperative's governing documents and the Cooperative will be operated solely as a conduit for the collection and expenditure of advertising contributions. |
Source: Item 9 — FRANCHISEE'S OBLIGATIONS (FDD pages 33–34)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Card My Yard Franchise Disclosure Document, Section IX of the Franchise Agreement outlines the franchisee's obligations regarding advertising. Specifically, this section details the requirements for local advertising, including minimum annual spending amounts. A new Card My Yard franchisee must spend $300 in the first 12 months, $500 in months 13 through 24, and $800 in each 12-month period thereafter on local advertising. These funds must be used to promote the Card My Yard business within the franchisee's protected area.
In addition to the monetary requirements, Card My Yard franchisees must also post at least five promotional messages each week on both Facebook and Instagram. All advertising and promotional materials must adhere to Card My Yard's standards and must be approved by the franchisor before use. Franchisees are prohibited from using misleading advertising or posting information that reflects negatively on the Card My Yard brand.
Section IX also covers the potential establishment of advertising cooperatives. If a cooperative is formed in the franchisee's area, the franchisee is required to join and contribute to it. These cooperative contributions are in addition to the individual local marketing spend requirements and are not credited towards them. The cooperative is intended to administer advertising programs and develop promotional materials for its members, operating as a conduit for advertising contributions.