Managing public relations for one franchise brand comes with its own set of priorities. With Authority Brands, Mainland has taken on that challenge across an entire portfolio.
"Authority Brands is one of the largest franchise portfolios in North America, and today we support all 14 brands across the portfolio," said Julie Maw, vice president at Mainland. “That means we're managing PR and content strategies across the home services industry, each with its own growth goals, target franchisee, media opportunities and brand voice."
For Mainland, the scale of the account has provided a blueprint for what effective PR can look like for today's growing portfolio companies: centralized enough to create efficiencies and identify opportunities across brands, but specialized enough to ensure no individual concept loses its identity.
The fundamental mistake a PR agency can make when approaching a portfolio company is assuming that one overarching strategy can simply be replicated across every brand. Mainland takes the opposite approach.
"It's less like managing one account and more like managing 14 independent brands that also need to align with a broader corporate vision," Maw said. “That level of complexity requires a highly coordinated strategy, consistent communication and a team that understands how to balance individual brand needs with portfolio-wide priorities.”
Each Authority Brands concept has its own growth objectives, ideal franchisee profile, leadership team, consumer audience and opportunities for media exposure. As a result, Mainland begins by treating each brand as if it were a standalone client.
That individual attention is particularly important in franchising, where PR is often being asked to accomplish several goals simultaneously. A campaign might need to build consumer awareness in local markets, generate credibility among prospective franchisees, establish executives as industry authorities or elevate franchise owners whose stories reinforce the brand's value proposition.
"Because we partner across all 14 brands, we have a unique vantage point," Maw said. "We can quickly identify trends, story angles and tactics that are performing well for one brand and thoughtfully adapt them for others where it makes strategic sense. That cross-brand visibility creates efficiencies while still preserving each brand's individuality."
One of the clearest examples of that strategy came through Mainland's Veterans Day campaigns. Rather than building an isolated Veterans Day campaign for a single concept or issuing a conventional corporate press release, Mainland saw an opportunity to use the size of the portfolio to tell a much bigger story.
"One campaign that really stands out was our Veterans Day initiative," Maw said. “Authority Brands has a genuine commitment to supporting veterans. Its CEO is a veteran, many of its franchise owners have served, and the company actively creates pathways for veterans to transition into franchise ownership.”
The campaign ultimately culminated in a national FOX Business segment featuring several Authority Brands franchise owners and the impact franchise ownership had made on their lives.
When multiple brands share an authentic connection to a larger trend, value or initiative, the portfolio can become the story.
The same scale that creates those opportunities also creates one of the biggest challenges.
"One of the biggest risks is becoming too comfortable," Maw said. “When you're immersed in multiple brands every day, it's easy for messaging to start blending together or for strategies to become repetitive.”
Mainland combats that risk by continuously returning to the fundamentals of each individual concept: Who is the audience? What differentiates this brand? What is happening in its industry? Why does this particular company have credibility to participate in the conversation?
"We work hard to prevent that by continually challenging ourselves to bring fresh thinking to every client conversation," Maw said. “That means identifying emerging industry trends, news cycles and cultural moments, then asking how each brand can authentically participate based on its unique positioning.”
The team also regularly revisits each concept's voice, target audience and competitive differentiators rather than relying on a strategy simply because it has worked elsewhere in the portfolio.
Managing a portfolio at Authority Brands' scale requires more than additional story ideas. It requires an infrastructure capable of turning those ideas into coordinated campaigns.
"Another advantage is continuity," Maw said. “Our account team, writers and media relations teams work collaboratively across the portfolio, allowing us to move quickly, share institutional knowledge and consistently deliver stronger stories and better results.”
That structure becomes especially valuable when the news cycle creates an opportunity relevant to several brands. Rather than operating in separate silos, Mainland can recognize the opportunity at the portfolio level, determine which brands have the strongest and most authentic connection to the story and tailor the execution accordingly.
For Maw, the lesson from Authority Brands extends beyond the mechanics of managing 14 different PR calendars.
"Before developing a strategy, take the time to understand the organization's highest priorities, not just for each individual brand, but for the portfolio as a whole," Maw said. “The best PR programs aren't built around generating coverage; they're built around helping the business achieve its broader growth objectives.”
That requires an outside agency to do more than execute assignments. A portfolio company already possesses deep institutional knowledge about its own concepts. The value of an external partner comes from pairing that knowledge with a perspective the organization cannot always generate internally.
"Don't be afraid to challenge assumptions and bring forward new ideas," Maw said. “Portfolio companies often have a lot of institutional knowledge about their brands, but that's exactly why they hire outside strategic partners. Your role is to bring fresh thinking to the table.”
For other portfolio companies, the model offers a clear takeaway: Complexity does not have to dilute PR. With the right structure, it can make it more powerful.
"The strongest agency relationships are built when both sides are aligned around the same business goals and trust each other to push the strategy forward," Maw said.
For Mainland, that is ultimately the goal of managing PR at portfolio scale: understand every brand individually, understand the organization collectively and build communications strategies that help move the entire business forward.
Growing and selling franchises is difficult. Want to learn more about how Mainland helps franchisors and portfolio companies grow their brands with confidence? Visit hellomainland.com and see what we can do for you.
Mainland
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With 14 distinct brands, Authority Brands needs a PR strategy built for portfolio scale. Mainland created an approach designed to deliver exactly that.
Managing public relations for one franchise brand comes with its own set of priorities. With Authority Brands, Mainland has taken on that challenge across an entire portfolio.
"Authority Brands is one of the largest franchise portfolios in North America, and today we support all 14 brands across the portfolio," said Julie Maw, vice president at Mainland. “That means we're managing PR and content strategies across the home services industry, each with its own growth goals, target franchisee, media opportunities and brand voice."
For Mainland, the scale of the account has provided a blueprint for what effective PR can look like for today's growing portfolio companies: centralized enough to create efficiencies and identify opportunities across brands, but specialized enough to ensure no individual concept loses its identity.
The fundamental mistake a PR agency can make when approaching a portfolio company is assuming that one overarching strategy can simply be replicated across every brand. Mainland takes the opposite approach.
"It's less like managing one account and more like managing 14 independent brands that also need to align with a broader corporate vision," Maw said. “That level of complexity requires a highly coordinated strategy, consistent communication and a team that understands how to balance individual brand needs with portfolio-wide priorities.”
Each Authority Brands concept has its own growth objectives, ideal franchisee profile, leadership team, consumer audience and opportunities for media exposure. As a result, Mainland begins by treating each brand as if it were a standalone client.
That individual attention is particularly important in franchising, where PR is often being asked to accomplish several goals simultaneously. A campaign might need to build consumer awareness in local markets, generate credibility among prospective franchisees, establish executives as industry authorities or elevate franchise owners whose stories reinforce the brand's value proposition.
"Because we partner across all 14 brands, we have a unique vantage point," Maw said. "We can quickly identify trends, story angles and tactics that are performing well for one brand and thoughtfully adapt them for others where it makes strategic sense. That cross-brand visibility creates efficiencies while still preserving each brand's individuality."
One of the clearest examples of that strategy came through Mainland's Veterans Day campaigns. Rather than building an isolated Veterans Day campaign for a single concept or issuing a conventional corporate press release, Mainland saw an opportunity to use the size of the portfolio to tell a much bigger story.
"One campaign that really stands out was our Veterans Day initiative," Maw said. “Authority Brands has a genuine commitment to supporting veterans. Its CEO is a veteran, many of its franchise owners have served, and the company actively creates pathways for veterans to transition into franchise ownership.”
The campaign ultimately culminated in a national FOX Business segment featuring several Authority Brands franchise owners and the impact franchise ownership had made on their lives.
When multiple brands share an authentic connection to a larger trend, value or initiative, the portfolio can become the story.
The same scale that creates those opportunities also creates one of the biggest challenges.
"One of the biggest risks is becoming too comfortable," Maw said. “When you're immersed in multiple brands every day, it's easy for messaging to start blending together or for strategies to become repetitive.”
Mainland combats that risk by continuously returning to the fundamentals of each individual concept: Who is the audience? What differentiates this brand? What is happening in its industry? Why does this particular company have credibility to participate in the conversation?
"We work hard to prevent that by continually challenging ourselves to bring fresh thinking to every client conversation," Maw said. “That means identifying emerging industry trends, news cycles and cultural moments, then asking how each brand can authentically participate based on its unique positioning.”
The team also regularly revisits each concept's voice, target audience and competitive differentiators rather than relying on a strategy simply because it has worked elsewhere in the portfolio.
Managing a portfolio at Authority Brands' scale requires more than additional story ideas. It requires an infrastructure capable of turning those ideas into coordinated campaigns.
"Another advantage is continuity," Maw said. “Our account team, writers and media relations teams work collaboratively across the portfolio, allowing us to move quickly, share institutional knowledge and consistently deliver stronger stories and better results.”
That structure becomes especially valuable when the news cycle creates an opportunity relevant to several brands. Rather than operating in separate silos, Mainland can recognize the opportunity at the portfolio level, determine which brands have the strongest and most authentic connection to the story and tailor the execution accordingly.
For Maw, the lesson from Authority Brands extends beyond the mechanics of managing 14 different PR calendars.
"Before developing a strategy, take the time to understand the organization's highest priorities, not just for each individual brand, but for the portfolio as a whole," Maw said. “The best PR programs aren't built around generating coverage; they're built around helping the business achieve its broader growth objectives.”
That requires an outside agency to do more than execute assignments. A portfolio company already possesses deep institutional knowledge about its own concepts. The value of an external partner comes from pairing that knowledge with a perspective the organization cannot always generate internally.
"Don't be afraid to challenge assumptions and bring forward new ideas," Maw said. “Portfolio companies often have a lot of institutional knowledge about their brands, but that's exactly why they hire outside strategic partners. Your role is to bring fresh thinking to the table.”
For other portfolio companies, the model offers a clear takeaway: Complexity does not have to dilute PR. With the right structure, it can make it more powerful.
"The strongest agency relationships are built when both sides are aligned around the same business goals and trust each other to push the strategy forward," Maw said.
For Mainland, that is ultimately the goal of managing PR at portfolio scale: understand every brand individually, understand the organization collectively and build communications strategies that help move the entire business forward.
Growing and selling franchises is difficult. Want to learn more about how Mainland helps franchisors and portfolio companies grow their brands with confidence? Visit hellomainland.com and see what we can do for you.
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