What Major Franchises Use Awnings For Advertising? The Answer May Surprise You

The mere presence of franchise awnings helps to advertise your business. When you take it a step further by incorporating graphics, your franchise awnings can become truly outstanding in advertising not only your business name but what you do or sell. That attracts customers and helps grow your sales.

Within any franchise, products and services are absolutely consistent. Branding is absolutely consistent. But locations are not. For awnings, you must always adhere to corporate specification for franchise awnings . Franchise awnings have to adapt to meet the size, shape and other idiosyncrasies of each physical space.

Let’s look at some ways in which major franchises use awnings for advertising.

Dunkin Donuts

Their iconic huge coffee cup is perhaps the ultimate in maximizing your franchise awnings for advertising purposes. But you don’t have to go that far. How else do they use their awnings for marketing? Sometimes they use their familiar “DD” initials in their signature pink and orange to depict donuts sliding over the edge of their awnings onto the front trim. Or sometimes the store has an enormous wall-mounted sign and the awning elaborates, in case you didn’t know what’s inside: “Coffee. Bake Place.”

Dunkin Donuts + Baskin Robbins, under one roof

So here’s an advertising challenge. Dunkin Donuts addresses this conundrum with coordination. Dunkin Donuts colors are orange and pink, BR’s colors are turquoise and pink. For some locations, pink tones become the unifier, and for other locations, the franchise logos are located front and center over the doorway, with awnings extending to either side – one in pink and orange, the other in pink and turquoise.

Subway

Another franchise with strong branding firmly in place, Subway can say it all by simply displaying their name/logo prominently on their franchise awnings. They use both front and side panels, so as not to miss any advertising angles.

Smashburger

The name is on the front of the building. So how does Smashburger use their franchise awnings for advertising? The awnings literally underline their name, in a bright-and-bold red line. Simple? Yes. Subtle? Perhaps. Effective? Definitely.

UPS Store

Franchise awnings in the ubiquitous chocolate brown allow the name to stand out boldly on the valance of franchise awnings. Need they say more?

The need for consistent branding and advertising across multiple units pertains to regional and national chains as well as franchises, and they tend to address this challenge in similar ways. Many choose franchise awnings in a solid hue that matches their primary marketing color to establish a coordinated look while drawing the eye to the business name and logo on their sign.

Chase Bank uses this approach for stand-alone locations, but for a storefront branch, they used franchise awnings more directly for advertising — half-dome awnings over the windows in their official blue color with the bank name and logo displayed on a the awning’s deep skirt.

Bank of America also relies on their franchise color – bright red – to make their advertising statement. That bright red background is hard to miss, and the logo confirms it’s BofA. On some buildings, they attach matching tall, narrow logoed banners above eye level. As you’re walking or driving down the block, these banners enable you to spot the bank from a distance, where street-level awnings might get lost in the visual cacophony.

Another example? T-Mobile. Everyone recognizes their black and hot pink colors. Some locations feature black exterior with franchise awnings in brilliant pink, whereas other locations use shiny black awnings with a hot pink valance.

How will you use franchise awnings to advertise?

You might take a slice from Panera Bread. These stores use franchise awnings to advertise beautifully, without words. Their awnings sport huge stylized graphics of wheat sheaves in sage, purple and pumpkin, subtly reinforcing Panera’s name and corporate colors.

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