What BMW Did to My Laundromat Strategy

Let me share with you about a day I realized how much brand mixing can mess with a client’s experience, it wasn't even in a laundromat.

Last year, I owned a Mini Cooper. Liked that car, 6 speed stick, oh man never mind, back to the story. When I needed service, I'd drive to this dedicated Mini dealership that felt and looked like Mini, you know? Everything from the colorful, playful design to the layout screamed fun and cool. The service department had this cool, relaxed vibe that perfectly matched what Mini represented. Walking in there, you immediately knew you were in Mini Country.
Then BMW decided to close the Mini dealership and move everything to their BMW location.

The first time I pulled into that BMW service center, I was genuinely underwhelmed. Here's this sleek, serious, luxury-focused space trying to serve both BMW's sophisticated clientele and Mini's fun-loving crowd. Nothing about it felt like Mini anymore. The cool energy? Gone. The design that made me smile? Gone.

I was getting the same maintenance service, but the Mini experience was gone. Hence, one of the reasons I sold my Mini.

Different Clients, Different Needs

That BMW/Mini situation got me thinking about something I see in our industry. As laundromat owners add services like PUD or WNF, some are running multiple brands under one roof.

When I was adding PUD to my dad's original laundromat, we were running everything out of one location. Besides, space getting tight quickly. We noticed different client types needed different service experiences to avoid confusion. So we created The Soap Box, a separate brand and location to serve our PUD and WNF clients.

The Cost of Brand Confusion

Here's what happens when you mix brands, clients can get confused about what you actually are.

Research shows that 76% of clients expect consistent interactions across departments, but 54% say it generally feels like sales, service, and marketing teams don't share information¹. Even more telling, 74% of consumers would buy based on experience alone².

Remember Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins dual locations? You'd walk in and see employees in different uniforms working in each other's areas, creating this weird brand confusion where you weren't sure what kind of experience you were supposed to be having.

Thinking about the thinking of laundry:
When we assume all laundry clients' needs are the same, we end up not meeting their needs.

Practical Ways to Keep Brands Separate

I'm not saying you need separate buildings for different brands. But you do need to think about how to create distinct brand experiences.

Here are some approaches to consider:
Separate Digital Presence: Different websites, social media accounts, and online messaging for each brand. Your self-service site could emphasize convenience and value. While your PUD site could focus on quality and service.

Distinct Signage and Areas: If you have the space, create designated areas with different branding materials. Make it clear where someone would go to get the service from the brand they want.

Different Marketing Materials: Your messaging for each service should speak directly to that client type. Trying to make one flyer work for both brands is tough.

What Next

Whether you're adding services to an existing location or planning a new multi-service operation from scratch, think carefully about your brand strategy.

The goal isn't to complicate your business, it's to make sure every client feels like you understand what they need.

If you're planning to add new services, consider:

• How will this new service change my clients' expectations?
• Should this be part of my existing brand, or does it need its own identity?

Businesses that thrive long-term are ones that make every client feel like the service was designed for them. That might mean having the courage to create separate brands, even when it feels easier to keep everything under one roof.

The data shows companies with strong brand consistency see 65% of their business come from repeat clients, and those clients are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase⁴. While 75% of clients expect consistent experiences across multiple channels, with inconsistency leading to dissatisfaction and higher churn⁵.

Remember: trying to be everything to everyone often means being nothing special to anyone.

That's all I got for you today.

Waleed

Join me on Linkedin, YouTube, X (Twitter), or Instagram

Echoing the thoughts of Al Ries.

It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.

¹ Salesforce Customer Experience Research, 2024
² Treasure Data/Forbes Consumer Experience Study, 2024
³ PwC Future of CX Report, 2024
⁴ SmallBizGenius/White House Office of Consumer Affairs, 2024
⁵ Firework Customer Retention Analysis, 2025