How Raintree Helped FUN BUS Improve its Digital Presence and Create Brand Cohesiveness in Preparation for Franchise Growth

After acquiring the FUN BUS brand a few years ago, newly minted franchisor Stacey Kimmins was faced with an important decision: she needed to find a franchise development partner equipped to support her young-but-growing brand’s every need.

As she prepared to take the children’s fitness brand she likened to a “mini fitness membership for kids aged 2 through 7” to the next level of growth, Kimmins set out in search of a full-service franchise development solution. The process that involved interviews with a number of potential partners before she elected to move forward with Raintree in November 2018. 

“There were many options that I felt could provide much of the support I was looking for, but Raintree stood out as a top contender because of its success in developing other emerging franchise brands like mine,” she said. “What connected with me most was the culture, people and creativity. I could tell they were genuinely excited to take on FUN BUS and help us grow, and we loved that.”

While the FUN BUS-Raintree partnership is still fairly new, Kimmins said the time Raintree has taken to get to know the FUN BUS leadership team, franchisees and brand as a whole has made the relationship truly authentic. 

“It really is a partnership,” she said. “Raintree has provided guidance and assistance that has gone above and beyond, all with the overall goal of developing the brand for the long-term. It’s been an eye-opening experience because the focus has been on telling our story in a better way. They’re helping us to convey the impact our brand has on our customers: the children and the families who experience FUN BUS.”

Beyond immediately connecting on a human level to help franchise prospects and customers both get to know the children’s fitness education brand, Raintree has been ramping up FUN BUS’ marketing efforts and testing the effectiveness of different lead generation campaigns. Raintree has also assisted FUN BUS with its rebranding efforts and the creation of a new franchise development website. 

Kimmins explained that going through the process of recreating the brand’s franchise development materials and website trickled down to an overall improvement of FUN BUS’ brand appearance as a whole. Raintree’s involvement, she said, led to an overhaul of franchisee marketing collateral, the brand’s consumer website and even sparked the brand’s fleet of buses to be re-branded. 

While still early on in the process, Raintree’s efforts have had the desired effect already: FUN BUS has signed three new franchisees this year, one being a multi-unit owner. The brand is also gaining a lot of traction with a solid pipeline of strong candidates and is pursuing additional signings this quarter, Kimmins noted. 

“All of Raintree’s work is resulting in better-quality leads coming in, stronger relationships with broker networks, and an overall improvement in the brand appearance to potential candidates,” she said. “We are really excited to have consistent messaging across all of our content out there and the response from prospective franchisees has been really positive."