Consumer Marketing News, Views, and Reviews: October 26, 2021

Welcome back to our monthly news roundup for franchise consumer marketers! Feeling whipsawed by the pandemic? After Covid’s delta variation threw cold water on summer’s optimism, there is a feeling that the worst is behind us (with increasing vaccinations and barring new variations).

Still, as franchising carries on with growth and expansion, marketers must market and winners will adapt! So here’s what’s trending in franchise consumer marketing and related news as of late October 2021. MARKETING/CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Is Your Marketing Ready To Meet the Demands of Holiday 2021?

Restaurants Spend Big for Upgraded Wintertime Outdoor Dining 10 Steps To Optimize Your Content Marketing Program for ROI 5 Questions To Answer Before Launching a Premium Loyalty Program Top 5 Customer Loyalty Tactics for a Reliable Consumer Base (on-demand webinar) Email Is the Preferred Marketing Channel for Hungry Millennials Consumer Assumptions Based on Age No Longer Apply Report: How Brands Are Implementing Influencer Marketing How Marketers Can Earn Gen Z’s Attention in an Omnichannel World 5 B2B Marketing Takeaways To Inform Your 2022 Marketing Plans (on-demand webinar) Big Hotel Brands Bet on All-Inclusive Resorts To Counter Covid-19 Slump What Marketers Need To Know About the IAB’s Latest Ad Fraud Takedown REOPENING & RECOVERY What the Pandemic Continues To Teach Us About Customer Wants and Needs Dollar Stores Hit a Pandemic Downturn The Co-Working Industry Is About to Experience a $13 Billion Boom WeWork To Report $1.5B Yearly Loss Weeks Before $9B IPO Burger King Tests Plant-Based Nuggets in 4 U.S.

Cities as of Oct. 11 McDonald’s To Test McPlant Meatless Burger at 8 U.S.

Restaurants Starting Nov. 3 HIRING & EMPLOYMENT 4 Reasons Employee Retention Is Critical To Long-Term Success Study: Increased Pay Alone Won’t Attract Employees 5 Reasons People Quit, and 10 Things You Can Do To Make Them Stay Leveraging Marketing Tech To Recruit the Best Restaurant Employees Raising Cane’s Corporate Staff To Work Inside Stores, Recruit Talent Amid Labor Shortage COMPANY NEWS Will Facebook Reveal a Metaverse-Inspired Corporate Name Change? BurgerFi To Acquire Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings for $161 Million Papa John’s Signs 100-Unit Deal with Sun Holdings, Brand’s Largest U.

S. Deal Kitchen United Acquires Ghost Kitchen Developer Zuul Franklin Junction Adds Dickey’s Barbecue Pit to Roster of Host Kitchen Brand Partners Little Caesars Pursues New England Expansion, Targets 50 Units by 2026 LEGAL 7-Eleven National Coalition Files Petition with FTC To Investigate Franchising To Better Protect Franchisees TECHNOLOGY Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends for 2022 Instagram Adds New Data Analytics To Provide More Performance Insight for Marketers Instagram Tests Longer Videos in Stories, New Stories-to-Reels Links Snap’s Revenue Miss Highlights Outsized Impact of Apple's Tracking Changes FRANCHISING CARES Hungry Howie’s 12th Love, Hope & Pizza Campaign Partners with National Breast Cancer Foundation Dutch Bros Raises More than $695,000 for Local Youth Organizations Panera Bread & Susan G.