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HOW FRANCHISEES ARE WINNING IN BRAND LOCALIZATION

“Half the marketing battle for our centers is figuring out what to do and where to go to do local marketing,” says Francesca Muhlbaier, Director of Marketing at Sylvan. “With LocalWave, it’s all in one place; hyper-local data, campaigns, tips and scripts are easy for our local centers to find and use right away.”

Muhlbaier and her team also have access to Sandbox’s team of retail marketing experts. The Sandbox team has a 20-year history of helping multi-score national brands engage and activate consumers on a local level. While other Sandbox clients like H&R Block and Sprint may be in different categories, the local marketing experience and findings have value for any retail vertical.

Przywara says LocalWave is doing what the name implies: It’s pointing centers in the right direction so they spend their time wisely, in places where busy parents are likely to be.

With over 650 centers nationwide, Sylvan Learning is one of the best-known brands in the educational services business. Its national marketing campaigns have made it a household name, but consistent local marketing is what makes good brands great. The LocalWave platform from Sandbox is helping Sylvan generate local marketing interactions — and sales.

Sylvan center owners are franchisees. Many have backgrounds in education, training and business operations, but few have professional backgrounds in sales and marketing. “Marketing to moms has changed over the last 10 years,” says Amy Przywara. “Moms want help and expertise, and they want it to come to them, in their schools and neighborhoods. The best brands make moms’ lives easier.” She should know. Not only is she a mom to a 7-year-old and 5-year-old twins, but she’s also the Chief Marketing Officer of Sylvan Learning. From their Baltimore headquarters, Przywara and her team create all marketing campaigns; however, rolling them out to the 650+ Sylvan locations can be difficult. “The first step in local marketing is to help our center owners create a marketing plan,” says Przywara. “And the plan should be tailored to their community. We can provide the ideas and tools, but the centers need to really understand and own their plan for the best results.” “Our center owners need and want our help on the sales and marketing side. The question has always been what’s the best and easiest way to provide it,” says Przywara. “That’s why we choose the LocalWave platform. Easy access to guided plans and campaigns makes local marketing success more attainable for our centers.”

BRAND LOCALIZATION SIMPLIFIEDSYLVAN’S LOCAL CHALLENGE

“LocalWave is generating a lot of activity among center owners. It allows them to see the whole picture, share ideas, and gives them confidence to try new things including local outreach to schools, businesses, influencers and referral sources.”

Amy PrzywaraChief Marketing Officer | Sylvan

in brief

THE BIG IDEA

“Sandbox has been working on local store marketing campaigns and solutions for a long time, so they know the dynamics of marketing a national brand on a local level. With LocalWave, they bring a unique blend of strategy, messaging and enablement to the table that is hard to find.”

Francesca MuhlbaierDirector of Marketing | Sylvan

Motivation: There is a strong correlation between an individual Sylvan center’s performance and its local marketing budget and activities.

Action: The best teaching and learning systems are supported by organized lesson plans and clear instructions. The same principles can be applied to brand localization. The LocalWave platform serves as the communications hub and

central repository for hyper-local data, plans and campaigns.

Outcomes: Sylvan executives like the energy

and confidence that LocalWave inspires

among center owners, which leads directly to new student enrollments. “LocalWave gives them the playbook they need to go out and build their businesses. The centers like it, we like it, and adding just a few new students each month, across all our centers, provides a healthy return on our investment,” says Muhlbaier.

Sessions are up 36% YoY since the launch of version 2 of the Sylvan LocalWave Platform.

Average time per sessions are up 218% YoY since the launch of version 2 of the Sylvan LocalWave platform.

RESULTS