May City Publications franchisees elect to establish cooperative advertising for a select area?
City_Publications Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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- There is no advertising program for which you are required to make contributions. There is no advertising council composed of franchisees. We may elect at a future time to arrange cooperative advertising. You may elect with other franchisees to establish cooperative advertising for a select area encompassing your mutual territories. It is optional for the franchisees to participate in such a cooperative. If such a cooperative is established, we anticipate that each franchisee in the given area would automatically be a member, with one vote per franchise agreement. Any company or affiliate owned outlets would also be members and would be required to make the same contributions as the other members. Since there are no cooperatives at this point or ever in the past, we do not have a policy on an amount that franchisees would be required to contribute to the cooperative. We anticipate that the members would establish a governing board and would adopt governing documents that would be available for review by a prospective franchisee. (Section 11B)
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TRAINING (FDD pages 19–24)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to City Publications' 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees have the option to establish cooperative advertising in a specific area encompassing their mutual territories. Participation in such a cooperative is not mandatory.
If a cooperative advertising program is established by City Publications franchisees, the FDD anticipates that each franchisee within the designated area would automatically become a member, with each franchise agreement granting one vote. Company-owned or affiliated outlets would also be members and would be required to contribute the same amount as other members.
The 2025 FDD specifies that since no cooperative advertising programs currently exist or have existed in the past for City Publications, there is no established policy regarding the amount franchisees would be required to contribute. The FDD anticipates that the members would establish a governing board and would adopt governing documents that would be available for review by a prospective franchisee.