Is participation in cooperative advertising optional for City Publications franchisees?
City_Publications Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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, participation in cooperative advertising is optional for franchisees. The FDD states that there is currently no advertising program requiring franchisee contributions, nor is there an advertising council.
City Publications may choose to arrange cooperative advertising in the future, and franchisees can also elect to establish cooperative advertising for their mutual territories. However, participation in such a cooperative is optional for franchisees. If a cooperative is established, City Publications anticipates that each franchisee in the 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 other members.
Since no cooperatives exist currently or have in the past, there is no established policy on required contributions. City Publications anticipates that the members would establish a governing board and adopt governing documents available for review by prospective franchisees. This provides franchisees with the flexibility to decide whether or not to participate in cooperative advertising efforts.