Recovered from Archive.org – Mar 21, 1997

Last week saw two portentious announcements. USWeb announced that it will start a nationwide franchise of internet consulting and web design firms. Compuserve revealed one day later that the online behemoth was planning a web hosting service. The CompuServe plan is less ambitious than that of USWeb, which intends to create a nationwide network of independently owned one-stop Web shops, complete with hosting, training, and design services.

“I’d like a Big Mac, fries, a Coke and ten pages with alot of links.”

Although I’m sure it will make a big impact and most likely get some accounts, I believe that franchise one-stop shopping is not what most companies want for their advertising. The internet in its present form is advertising, not much different the magazine ad. I don’t think that if a major Madison Avenue advertising agency set up nationwide franchises, that they would keep their reputation for high quality national work. I predict less than expected results for these cookie cutter franchises, but rather, several independent design firms will become the go-to guys for the big accounts.

Check out one of the top firms portfolios here.