Social Geek presents a mini-episode today getting ready for World Franchise Day!

Join Sherry McNeil, CEO of the Canadian Franchise Association and the creative mind behind World Franchise Day, along with host Jack Monson.

They'll chat about the background for WFD and what franchise pros across the globe can do to celebrate and spread the word about Franchising!

Thanks to The Canadian Franchise Association, World Franchise Council, and Thunderly.

Special Guest: Sherry McNeil.

AI-generated slop versus Premium content created by talented humans. You know what side I’m on ... where do you land??

But, maybe there’s a third leg of this stool. We’re talking to John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing.

Thanks to today’s sponsors Thunderly, AnswerConnect, and Pilot.

Special Guest: John Jantsch.

Social Geek, the most popular franchise podcast, presents another One-on-One conversation with a 2026 Franchise Thought Leadership Award winner.

James Stapleton, Vice President of Franchise Development at Caring Transitions, joins host Jack Monson to discuss:

• The difference between coaching & helping versus managing & bossing in franchise leadership

• The changes James has seen in the franchise development in just the few years

• How working together makes everyone become more successful (and make more money!)

Thanks to today’s sponsors Thunderly, AnswerConnect, and Pilot.

Special Guest: James Stapleton.

On our kind-of-weekly chat on the franchise restaurant space, Lauren Fernandez of Full Course and Jack Monson of Thunderly are discussing updates like franchisee buyouts, IPOs, and AI blowback.

AND we have a preview of Lauren and Jack's workshop at The Franchise Growth and Marketing Conference.

Join us at FGMC in Atlanta June 2 - 4.

To register for FGMC, please visit: https://www.franchisegrowthmarketingconference.com/

See the video version of So, Here’s The Thing on Lauren’s LinkedIn feed!

Special Guest: Lauren Fernandez.

Rebranding – what brands have done it well? Or maybe not so well? And when should you rebrand?

The Franchise Rock Stars are here: Scott Greenberg, Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Kristen Pechacek, and Derrick Ableman. We’ll dive into these elements of rebranding including:

• Not just changing the logo, but repositioning a brand’s identity

• The “curse of the new CMO” who wants to rebrand for the sake of rebranding

• The best timing for rebranding within a franchise system

• How rebranding a franchise affects not only consumer sales but also fran dev efforts

And we look at interesting rebrands of some of some favorite brands in Franchising like Domino’s, Benetrends, Celebree School, Thunderly, Dunkin’, Edible, Burger King, McDonald’s, Northeast Color, Anytime Fitness … plus other types of franchises like the NFL and Marvel Comics!

Thanks to today’s sponsors Thunderly, AnswerConnect, and Pilot.

Special Guests: Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, and Scott Greenberg.

We’re continuing our series of one-on-one conversations with this year’s Social Geek Franchise Thought Leadership Award winners with Dustin Thompson, Director of Franchise Development & Marketing at Jack In The Box

Dustin is a marketing expert who thinks like a sales guy. Or maybe he’s a successful salesperson who sees the landscape through the eyes of a marketing pro. Either way, he’s our kind of Franchisor!

Dustin is here to share:

• That he’s a real live franchise pro and not an AI bot!
• How franchise candidates are more informed about your brand (and other brands) before you even know who they are
• The future of the hybrid sales + marketing position
• Pushing a franchise versus executive filtering
• The importance of website schema
• Why those 10 blue links on Google aren’t as important for your candidates as answers on AI platforms
• The value of “Day In The Life” Videos with your franchisees

He’s not in the burger business, he’s in the business of being in the burger business!

Thanks to today’s sponsors Thunderly, AnswerConnect, and Pilot.

Special Guest: Dustin Thompson.

On our kind-of-weekly chat on the franchise restaurant space, Lauren Fernandez of Full Course and Jack Monson of Thunderly are investigating where potential restaurant owners are investigating.

We’ll discuss the Franchise Disclosure Document and how it’s evolved into AI-fuel.

And, we’ll share our hot tip for making your brand THE answer when candidates are researching brands on AI apps.

Special Guest: Lauren Fernandez.

We’re continuing our series of one-on-one talks with this year’s Social Geek Franchise Thought Leadership Award winners.

Larisa Walega, CGO of Ziebart International and a member of the IFA Board of Directors, is here to share what she sees happening right now in Franchising.

We dive deep into:

• The rise of the Chief GROWTH Officer

• Her journey into – and discovery of – Franchising

• AI & tech for franchise growth

• Building on customer experiences over services

• And the continued growth and evolution of the IFA Women’s Franchise Committee, which Larisa grew over the past two years as Chair.

Thanks to today’s sponsors Thunderly, AnswerConnect, and our newest partner, Pilot.

Special Guest: Larisa Walega.