• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 3, 2016

A recent BIA/Kelsey report released this week found more than 70% of franchisees work with an advertising or digital agency, the majority of which are small local agencies.

The report, part of the BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor Wave 19 survey of small and medium-sized businesses, shows franchisees have increased their adoption of technology, using more digital media and platforms, including sponsored content, native ads and video display ads.

Of the finding, BIA/Kelsey VP of Analytics and Insights Celine Matthiessen said, “Franchisees are not only testing the waters with these new formats, they are reporting good returns on their investments.

When asked about performance, 87.2% of franchisees ranked sponsored content as the top performer, followed by native ads (76%), specialty print directories (70.5%), video display ads (70.3%), out-of-home ads (68.6%), online deals (66.7%), online display (65.4%), Facebook news ads (65.3%), print coupons (62.8%) and online coupons (62.5%).

Additional findings from this report will be shared during the BIA/Kelsey BRANDS: The Brand-to-Local Marketing Summit on March 22 in New York during a one-day summit that will take a look at the drivers of $61 billion in spending by franchise and brand marketers who target local audiences, as well as the roles of agencies and ad-tech/martech companies.