Top Franchise Marketing Leaders: Kevin Dugan, VP of Marketing, Pet Wants

Kevin Dugan was first introduced to franchising in the early 2000s through architectural and interior design work for franchise clients, including Hilton. Though Pet Wants is the first franchise system he has worked in full-time, he has been exposed to the model for more than 20 years. His personal connection to small business — having grown up watching both his father and father-in-law run their own companies — makes supporting franchise owners especially meaningful.

Today, at Pet Wants, Dugan helps franchisees succeed by emphasizing strong retail fundamentals, consistent promotions, the power of customer data and a healthy “test-and-learn” mindset. His collaborative approach centers on equipping local owners to grow while ensuring the brand remains strong at a national level.

Kevin Dugan: I was first introduced to franchising in the early 2000s. I worked at an architecture and interior design company that had franchise clients in Hilton. Pet Wants is the first time I’ve been in it on a full-time basis, but I’ve been exposed to it for 20 years.

Dugan: It is rewarding in that you get to see people become entrepreneurs and really invest themselves in becoming part of their community. My father-in-law and my father were both small business owners, so the ability for me to help others become the same has been extremely rewarding.

1851: What is the single most powerful lever a marketing team can pull to directly impact franchisees’ profitability at the unit level?

Dugan: When it comes to retail, helping them sell is about ensuring that they have a steady flow of promotions. Also, collecting customer data needs to be muscle memory — it must be something they can do without even thinking about it.

Dugan: There is something new in marketing every day, so it’s really about keeping your eye on the horizon and not being afraid to try something new. I am a huge fan of test and learn — as long as you are actually learning.

We encourage our franchisees to tell us if they see new opportunities. We are happy to evaluate them on their behalf. It is exciting that they are doing that. Small businesses need every edge they can get, and when our local owners bring new ideas, that is important.

Dugan: I would say AI. It’s changing things drastically. Trying it out, being familiar with it and determining how it can help you will remain very important.

Dugan: At the end of the day, it really needs to be a collaboration. This may not be hot, per se, but everyone needs to be on the same page across the collaboration. We both succeed when we collaborate.

Franchise marketing also needs to stop selling uniformity and start selling local identity. Brand consistency is critical — there’s no getting around that fact. But we need to build some flexibility into our models so franchisees can also express their local identity. We want them to be seen as local small business owners, backed by a national brand. This requires some flexibility and guidance.