The Story of Smarter Franchising with FranScape and AdPlenty

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

Data was scattered. Marketing tools didn’t talk to each other. And digital advertising relied more on guesswork than on insight.
To fix that, Swimtime turned to FranScape - and through it, to a partnership with AdPlenty that transformed 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 bringing every franchise’s data into one place.

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

But the biggest breakthrough 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

Swimtime runs hundreds of local swimming classes across the UK.

All the class data - availability, location, pricing - was connected directly to AdPlenty’s automated ad engine.

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

Together, we 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 advertising that always reflected what was actually happening in the network:

🔸 When a class filled up → the ad stopped

🔸 When a new class opened → ads appeared within hours

🔸 When pricing changed → so did the creative

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

And the results were immediate: a 68% boost 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 1,000+ new customers.

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

The secret? Precision.
By replacing estimates with real-time, server-side data, Swimtime’s campaigns got 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.

Campaigns were built and adjusted automatically based on:

🔸 Location

🔸 Class availability

🔸 Pricing

🔸 Occupancy levels

This meant hundreds of hyper-local campaigns running simultaneously, perfectly balancing local relevance and national consistency - without adding any workload for franchisees.

From Short-Term Sales to Long-Term Value

The financial impact spoke for itself:

🔸 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 short-term return, it built something more valuable - a scalable, data-driven marketing model that keeps improving with every campaign.

Lessons for Franchisors

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

Start with one source of truth. Unify data before you scale marketing.
Adopt server-side tracking. Accuracy is your competitive edge.
Feed the algorithms. Better data = better performance.
Automate and localise. Scale without adding complexity.
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.

How Swimtime Turned £2,000 into £200,000: