Can the Deka Lash Brand Development Fund be used for branding activities?

form, change, dissolve or merge any Local Advertising Cooperative. (Franchise Agreement, Section 7.5).

Brand Development Fees. We require you to contribute a monthly Brand Development Fee equal to the greater of 3% of Gross Studio Sales or, after one year of being open, $500 per month. We may use the Brand Development Fund to pay for any costs incurred through third parties or our employment of personnel primarily dedicated to consumer marketing and promotion activities associated with advertising, promotional events, graphic design, photography, video production, branding, public relations, marketing, promotional materials, media, production, and any other activity we believe will benefit Deka Lash, including the creation, maintenance, optimization, and advertising of the company website or other websites, pay per click advertising, and administration of such, creating, conducting, and managing social media, creating, maintenance and promotion of appointment setting software, contests, direct mailers, promotions, and providing promotional materials to our franchisees. We may also use these fees for the support of creation and execution of all materials. We have the right to develop all media and marketing programs (internally or through outside vendors), and have the final decision on all promotions, creative concepts, and media. We may add information about franchise opportunities to advertising and activities supported by the Brand Development Fee. We do not guarantee that you will benefit from the Brand Development Fund in proportion to your contributions. We will not use the Brand Development Fund to defray the cost of our general operating expenses except for reasonable allocation of overhead, including pro-rata amount of salaries and facilities, used to develop, research and administer the promotions, products and activities covered by the Brand Development Fees. By making a written request to us, you may obtain an annual unaudited financial statement of the Brand Development Fund, at the expense of the Brand Development Fund, available 120 days after our fiscal year end. If we do not spend all Brand Development Fees received in a given year, we roll them over and apply them to the Brand Development Fund in the following year. We may use Brand Development Fees to pay for an independent audit of the Brand Development Fund, if we choose to

Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TRAINING (FDD pages 32–40)