How Swimtime Turned £2,000 into £200,000:The Story of Smarter Franchising with FranScape and AdPlenty

Written By Louise Jakobsen

When Swimtime set out to modernise its franchise network, the challenge was one many franchisors recognise all too well: how to maintain brand consistency while empowering local growth.

Data was scattered, marketing tools didn’t talk to each other, and the potential of digital advertising was limited by guesswork.
To fix that, Swimtime turned to FranScape - and through it, to a partnership with AdPlenty that would transform a small marketing test into a tenfold return.

Building a Foundation for Growth

The first step was clarity. Swimtime adopted FranScape as its operational core - a single, connected system that gathered every franchise’s data into one place.

With one clean dataset, Swimtime finally had a unified, accurate view of the entire network.

But what made the biggest difference wasn’t just consolidation - it was connection.

Thanks to FranScape’s Open APIs, Swimtime could link that operational data directly into external systems, including its marketing platforms.
Suddenly, the information that powered its classes - availability, location, pricing - could also power its advertising.

Data That Drives Marketing

With the data foundation in place, Swimtime and FranScape partnered with AdPlenty, a specialist in digital marketing for franchise and multi-location businesses.

Together, they built a system where Swimtime’s class data flowed automatically into Meta Ads in real time. No spreadsheets. No manual updates. Just live data driving live campaigns.

This meant ads could instantly reflect what was actually happening in Swimtime’s network:

  • If a class filled up, the ad stopped showing.

  • If a new class opened in a nearby town, ads appeared within hours.

  • If pricing changed, so did the creative.

Campaigns became hyper-local, dynamic, and fully automated - targeting families who could actually book the classes being promoted.

And the results were immediate: a 68% improvement in ROI compared to previous campaigns.

The Numbers That Tell the Story

The pilot investment was small - just £2,000 in ad spend.
But the return was extraordinary: £200,000 in sales and more than 1,000 new customers.

For Swimtime’s franchisor, that equated to around £20,000 in management royalties - a 10x ROI.

The success came down to one thing: precision.
By replacing estimates with real-time, server-side data, Swimtime’s campaigns became smarter every week - training algorithms to find the right audience faster and more efficiently.

Local Relevance at Scale

FranScape’s integration allowed Swimtime to feed class-level data directly into AdPlenty’s automated ad engine for Meta and Google.

The system built and adjusted campaigns based on:

  • Location

  • Class availability

  • Pricing

  • Occupancy levels

This meant Swimtime could run hundreds of hyper-local campaigns simultaneously — all automatically aligned with real-time demand.

It was the perfect balance of local relevance and national consistency - achieved without extra workload for franchisees.

From Short-Term Sales to Long-Term Value

The financial impact spoke volumes:

  • Ad spend: £2.8k

  • Tracked sales: £17.1k

  • Estimated customer lifetime value: £357k

Even conservatively, Swimtime’s £2k investment delivered £200k in revenue.
But beyond the immediate return, it built something more valuable - a smarter, scalable marketing model that will keep improving with every campaign.

Lessons for Franchisors

Swimtime’s success offers a clear roadmap for other franchise networks:

  1. Start with one source of truth. Unify data before you scale marketing.

  2. Adopt server-side tracking. Accuracy is your competitive edge.

  3. Feed the algorithms. Better data = better performance.

  4. Automate and localise. Scale without adding complexity.

  5. Think beyond the click. True ROI comes from lifetime value, not one-off conversions.

The Bigger Picture: Technology as a Growth Engine

Marketing funds are vital - but Swimtime’s story proves that technology is the real growth multiplier.

With FranScape as the data backbone and AdPlenty as the strategic marketing partner, Swimtime didn’t just fill more swimming classes.
They built a smarter, stronger franchise network — one where marketing, data, and growth work in perfect sync.

For franchisors, the message is clear:
Invest in your tech today - and your marketing will repay it tomorrow.

Louise Jakobsen
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