The 2026 Franchise Marketing Ones To Watch

Amanda House, Director of Digital & Franchise Marketing at Lightbridge Academy

Nominated For: Amanda strives to extract maximum value from every aspect of her work and partnerships, continuously pushing to excel across marketing and advertising while staying focused on growth goals. She channels her expertise in franchise marketing to support Lightbridge Academy’s vision of illuminating young minds and supporting everyone in its Circle of Care along life’s journey. 

Having worked on both the franchisor and supplier side of the business, she brings a unique perspective to her role, driven by the company’s core value of Excellence—never settling for “good enough” and always embracing continuous improvement and change.

Andrew Nelson, Vice President, Marketing at Horsepower Brands

Nominated For: Andrew is a seasoned creative leader and brand storyteller with nearly two decades of experience helping brands stand out in a crowded, noisy marketplace where effective storytelling is rare. His approach centers on seeing the bigger picture and leveraging key moments to engage, entertain, educate, and influence audiences. His career highlights include early experience in Hollywood, building creative departments from the ground up, and serving as a commercial director, alongside developing and executing go-to-market creative campaigns for global brands that showcase his deep expertise in international brand marketing and agency collaboration. 

Ashley Law, Director of Marketing at Shoot360

Nominated For: Ashley had no franchise experience when she joined Streamline Brands, but quickly immersed herself in the industry, starting in local marketing franchisee support before taking on growing responsibility in brand strategy and social media.

Over four years, she has paired that franchise expertise with a background in partnerships to strengthen the brands and franchisees she works with, playing an instrumental role in helping launch and grow Shoot360, a fast-growing emerging brand.

Ashley Myers, Director of Marketing at A Place At Home

Nominated For: Ashley has spent over a decade in marketing roles defined less by a specific industry and more by a common throughline: building something that didn’t exist yet, whether a brand’s content strategy, a franchise marketing system, or an agency client’s digital presence from the ground up. 

She built the A Place at Home marketing function from the ground up. Covering content strategy, brand communications, digital infrastructure, franchise owner education, vendor relationships, and large-scale conventions of 150+ attendees.

Aubree Privat, Graphic Designer & Marketing Assistant at Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar Franchising

Nominated For: In just three years at Shuckin’ Shack, Aubree has grown from a recent graphic design graduate into a versatile creative professional who thrives on turning scattered ideas into cohesive, on-brand marketing assets. She takes the brand’s often freewheeling brainstorms and translates them into finished creative that feels unified. 

Her skill was on full display for the Shuckin’ Shack’s 2026 America 250 Summer Menu campaign, where she built out the storyboards, mood boards, and marketing images that carried a wildly patriotic concept through to a clear, cohesive campaign enjoyed by customers, staff, and franchisees all summer long.

Chad Riddersen, Chief Marketing Officer at Epic Septic & Service

Nominated For: Chad is bringing an entirely new energy to the septic industry, building a fun, distinctive brand around Lego, energy drinks, podcasts, and phrases like “brown collar job,” along with bumper stickers proclaiming “We ain’t hauling chocolate milk.” Franchising has reached most needs-based home service categories, but Epic is positioned to be one of the first national franchises of its kind, and its willingness to embrace its own quirks has quickly made it a brand to watch. 

At its first corporate-owned location in Austin, Texas, that distinctive branding and marketing helped propel the business to a million-dollar revenue run rate within 90 days of putting its first truck on the road.

Chloe Wilkes, Graphic Design Specialist at Premium Service Brands

Nominated For: Though early in her career, Chloe has quickly established herself as a valuable creative contributor at Premium Service Brands, producing engaging visual content across social media, print, and digital channels for a portfolio of 10 home service brands. She plays a key role in developing the creative assets behind the organization’s social media campaigns, helping strengthen each brand’s online presence while maintaining consistency across the wider portfolio.

Emily Davis, Franchise Marketing Manager at Ziebart

Nominated For: Emily moved into franchise marketing in January 2025, where her skills have flourished. She now manages the day-to-day marketing operations for Ziebart’s franchise development team, overseeing email campaigns, content strategy, lead funnel management, and industry partnerships to keep the brand top-of-mind for future franchise owners.

Among her most notable contributions is her leadership of the Ziebart Franchise Podcast, launched in August 2025, which features corporate leaders and franchise owners sharing success stories and insights about owning a Ziebart franchise. Emily was deeply involved in the podcast’s launch and continues to drive its topics and guest lineup.

Emily Pavlik, Marketing Manager at British Swim School

Nominated For: Emily joined British Swim School during a period of rapid growth and quickly became a trusted resource for both franchisees and the corporate marketing team. She has taken ownership of helping new franchisees build strong marketing foundations during their critical first years in business, leading marketing training, providing one-on-one coaching, facilitating collaboration among franchisees, and managing key advertising partnerships.

Rather than offering generic recommendations, Emily takes a collaborative approach, tracking marketing performance, leading coaching calls, and tailoring guidance to each owner’s stage of growth, helping franchisees build confidence and establish a solid foundation for long-term success.

Emily Phan, Graphic Design Specialist at Premium Service Brands

Nominated For: Emily has quickly become a valuable contributor to Premium Service Brands’ marketing team, supporting creative initiatives across the organization’s expanding portfolio of brands with thoughtful design and strong attention to detail. She has played an important role in developing the creative assets and marketing collateral behind the rollout of Nesto, Premium Service Brands’ cross-brand marketing initiative, while also supporting design projects across the company’s 10-brand portfolio.

Emily Riordan, Graphic Designer at Buzz Franchise Brands

Nominated For: After stepping into an expanded role during a period of team transition, she took on new leadership responsibilities while continuing to deliver high-quality creative across multiple franchise brands, including helping bring British Swim School’s brand repositioning to life.

Emily led the implementation of Canva Enterprise across the organization, developing templates, establishing best practices, and training teammates to build a more scalable design process — turning what could have been a simple software rollout into a meaningful improvement in collaboration and creative efficiency.

Jessica Fasanelli, Head of Digital and Performance Marketing at DekaLash

Nominated For: Jess consistently goes above and beyond her job description, having served as a true right-hand on strategy, franchisee support, and brand direction during her time at Streamline. When DekaLash underwent an unexpected reorganization shortly after she joined, Jess didn’t look elsewhere — she jumped in to figure out the gaps that needed filling and aligned her team to keep the brand moving forward.

Jill Baker, Digital Marketing Manager at British Swim School

Nominated For: Jill has become an indispensable part of British Swim School’s marketing team, combining strong paid media management with a continuous focus on improving how the organization works. She identified that onboarding new franchisees and new pool locations involved numerous manual handoffs between internal teams and external vendors, and took the initiative to redesign the process with automation that streamlined onboarding, improved visibility, and reduced bottlenecks — creating a more efficient, scalable experience for franchisees and internal stakeholders alike.

Julia Palmisano, Senior Marketing Specialist at Planet Fitness (Taymax Group)

Nominated For: Julia has built a well-rounded perspective on franchising by working on the supplier side, at a Planet Fitness franchisee, and previously at Franchise Business Review, giving her a clear view into how franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers all work together. At Taymax Group, she supports field teams with the tools they need for community events, streamlines creative requests, and builds partnerships with agencies and vendors across the industry.

When her marketing team became short-staffed, Julia stepped up to take on additional responsibilities while continuing to own her existing work, streamlining the team’s events process and testing a promotional strategy that drove 30% higher joins on that day year-over-year. 

Karen Gabbert, Senior Graphic Designer at Premium Service Brands

Nominated For: Karen plays a key role in shaping the visual identity of the company’s growing portfolio, developing print and digital creative across nine brands and supporting rebranding initiatives that strengthen each brand’s presence in the marketplace. Her work on the Kitchen Wise | Closet Wise website redesign helped elevate the brand’s visual identity with a more sophisticated, refined aesthetic that better reflects its premium positioning.

Kelly Mance, Vice President of Marketing at Premium Service Brands

Nominated For: Bringing more than two decades of enterprise, agency, and entrepreneurial marketing experience into franchising, Kelly has quickly redefined Premium Service Brands’ marketing philosophy from a traditional lead-generation function into a revenue-focused growth engine centered on franchisee success, emphasizing lead quality, speed-to-lead, customer lifetime value, and cross-brand marketing opportunities. 

Kelly is leading the vision and strategic direction behind Nesto, Premium Service Brands’ cross-marketing platform enabling customer referrals, upsell campaigns, and shared marketing opportunities across the company’s family of brands, a foundational growth initiative designed to reduce customer acquisition costs while strengthening customer lifetime value as it scales.

Kenzie Venters Bowlby, Marketing Manager at IMAGE Studios

Nominated For: In just over a year at IMAGE Studios, Kenzie has taken full ownership of the marketing function at a 140-location franchise brand, managing every partnership, campaign, social platform, and print initiative with instinct and initiative that most marketers spend years developing. Rather than waiting to be told what needs to exist, she identifies the gaps and builds the solution herself.

That instinct led her to conceive and produce IMAGE Studios’ first-ever brand magazine entirely from scratch, replacing a basic tour folder with a publication that now serves as a centerpiece of the prospective tenant experience, and to implement IMAGE Icons, the brand’s first formal recognition platform for outstanding studio owners.

Leah Pinkes, Franchise Marketing Coordinator at ohDEER

Nominated For: Leah deserves a Franchise Marketing Ones To Watch award for her role in building a brand that stands out through authentic storytelling, strong organic content, and data-driven marketing. By shifting blog content to focus on real customer search intent and SEO best practices, she has generated hundreds of thousands of impressions, with one article surpassing one million, and has developed organic social content that has reached more than seven million views.

Leah is also contributing to the broader franchise community through the IFA Franchisor Forum Marketing Task Force, sharing ideas with peers while continuing to grow as a leader. Her creativity, curiosity, and willingness to experiment, paired with a genuine generosity toward colleagues, make her one of the most promising young marketers in franchising.

Madeleine Reis, Director of Marketing at Biscuit Belly

Nominated For: With over nine years of marketing experience, Madelaine leads a team of creative and passionate marketers at Biscuit Belly, a fast-growing and award-winning breakfast and brunch concept. Holding a Native Channel Certification from StackAdapt, she leverages expertise in Facebook Ads, social networking, and social media marketing to promote the brand and grow its customer base through engaging, innovative campaigns. 

Driven by a passion for creating memorable experiences for customers and partners, she has successfully planned and executed events, campaigns, and projects throughout her career that increased brand awareness, loyalty, and revenue across the food and beverage industry, bringing a collaborative spirit and eagerness to explore new skills and channels to every part of her work.

Meagan Corey, Director of Marketing at Graze Craze

Nominated For: Meagan has built and executed a comprehensive marketing strategy for Graze Craze that has supported the brand’s growth across more than 100 franchise locations, spanning product development, professional photo shoots, public relations, national advertising, influencer marketing, strategic partnerships, and product launches. 

A standout example of her impact is the development and launch of Graze Craze’s Wine Pairing product line, created in partnership with certified sommelier and influencer Warner Boin. The launch generated more than 3,500 units sold and roughly $500,000 in revenue within its first three months, making the Wine Pairing line the brand’s third best-selling product style companywide during that period, a position it has held onto in the quarter since.

Melissa Luna, Senior Field Marketing Manager at Yogurtland

Nominated For: Melissa has redefined what franchise marketing can achieve at Yogurtland by creating high-impact brand partnerships that generate excitement and drive traffic across the franchise system. Through standout collaborations with Disney, including the Disney Hoppers promotion and the Disney Toy Story 5 campaign, she transformed cultural moments into engaging guest experiences while equipping franchisees with turnkey marketing programs.

Her Toy Story 5 partnership turned a movie release into a multi-channel campaign featuring limited-time frozen yogurt creations, exclusive branded merchandise, and coordinated digital, social, and in-store marketing.

Michelle Hubner, Director of Marketing at Ideal Siding

Nominated For: Michelle consistently turns marketing into measurable business growth at Ideal Siding, combining strategic thinking with hands-on execution, building scalable systems, embracing AI and innovation, and equipping franchise owners with practical marketing strategies. She is leading 30%+ year-over-year growth at the brand, including the strongest month in company history in June 2026, by building a scalable marketing team and implementing local marketing and brand reputation strategies that help franchise owners generate more leads and strengthen their local presence.

Nicole Blaquiere, Strategic Marketing Project Manager at Premium Service Brands

Nominated For: Nicole has quickly become the operational backbone of Premium Service Brands’ marketing team, managing complex, cross-functional initiatives with remarkable organization and consistency despite having no formal project management training. She serves as the operational lead for the company’s largest marketing initiatives, partnering with marketing leadership to turn strategic priorities into actionable plans and managing timelines, deliverables, and cross-functional communication across the company’s 10 brands to keep campaigns on track and teams aligned.

Olivia Digirolamo-Cervone, Omni Channel Communications Manager at Authority Brands

Nominated For: Olivia works across the company’s trades franchise portfolio, including Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, Mister Sparky Electric, and One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning. She’s a driving force behind the Porcelain Picks Reading Challenge, a national campaign for Benjamin Franklin Plumbing built around storytelling and community engagement rather than traditional promotion, run in partnership with 360PR+.

Her approach to content consistently favors connection and credibility over vanity metrics, and she’s an active voice in the franchise marketing community, sharing what she’s learned from a decade in social media and content strategy. As Authority Brands’ Trades marketing team has racked up industry recognition for its campaigns, Olivia has been part of building the multi-brand content and communications engine behind that work.

Peter Chlebogiannis, Brand Marketing Strategist at Premium Service Brands

Nominated For: Peter deserves to be a Franchise Marketing Ones To Watch for his work to bring Premium Service Brands’ vision for Nesto to life by translating strategic direction into practical tools and resources for franchise owners, drawing on his background in brand building and market strategy to develop the playbooks and operational guidance that help franchisees leverage cross-brand marketing opportunities across the network.

He has been instrumental in developing the tactical strategy and franchisee playbook for Nesto, creating campaigns and cross-brand initiatives that help owners generate new business while reducing customer acquisition costs across all 10 brands.