BXXX Brooke Corp (MM)

PHILLIPSBURG, Kan., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Brooke Franchise Corporation, the insurance agency subsidiary of Brooke Corporation (NASDAQ:BXXX), will celebrate the grand opening of its advertising center located on its Phillipsburg campus during an open house on Feb. 9. The ad center is housed in a new, 25,000 square foot building located near the company's processing and storage centers, and includes an espresso shop and Brooke Savings Bank office that are open to the general public. The espresso shop promotes Brooke's trade name by selling Brooke merchandise and the Brooke brand of coffee. Brooke Savings Bank is an agent bank that provides customers of Brooke franchisees with access to banking services. Most of the space in the ad center building is used to showcase Brooke advertising materials with access typically restricted to employees and franchisees. This restricted space provides a creative work environment for advertising and facilities professionals, and houses a fully equipped print shop and production studio. The advertising center's restricted space will be open to the public during the Feb. 9 open house from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Ad center personnel will be available to answer questions and conduct tours. The success of an independent agency depends first on the efforts of the local owner. The ad center's mission is to improve the odds for business success by collectively providing advertising and facilities services to Brooke franchisees that they could not individually afford. Brooke's advertising professionals specialize in advertising for independent agents, resulting in an expertise that can be very beneficial to franchisees. Office location is also an important marketing decision. Franchisees can benefit from the experience Brooke's facilities professionals have gained from assisting franchisees in analyzing and opening hundreds of office locations. Nick Rhodes is manager of advertising services and Chuck Decker is manager of facilities services. "Brooke's investment in an advertising center is representative of our willingness to go the extra distance to help our franchisees succeed," said Leland Orr, general manager of Brooke's Phillipsburg campus. "The expense of the advertising center building, and the 64 professionals who work there, is not required by our franchise agreement. However, we realize that Brooke succeeds when its franchisees succeed, so we are willing to make the extra investment for our franchisees." Orr noted that the extra investments made by Brooke on behalf of its franchisees extend well beyond the cost of operating the ad center. These extra investments include approximately 7 million dollars in 2007 budget allocations for expenses expected to be paid by Brooke for the benefit of its franchisees and administered by ad center professionals. These budget allocations are in addition to the marketing expenses paid by franchisees and include: -- Brooke's estimated share of cooperative advertising expense for yellow pages, print ads and other forms of traditional advertising; -- Brooke's estimated cost for lead generation expenses, including Web site promotions, toll-free telephone service and cooperative lead purchasing; -- Brooke's estimated discounts provided on logo supplies to help franchisees build name recognition; -- Brooke's estimated cost of location analysis software to help franchisees select better office locations. -- Brooke's estimated cost of retaining a public relations firm for the exclusive use of franchisees. A dedication ceremony is planned for 4 p.m. Leland Orr and Shawn Lowry, president of Brooke Franchise Corporation, are expected to address those in attendance. About our company ... Brooke Corporation is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "BXXX". Its wholly owned subsidiary, Brooke Franchise Corporation, distributes insurance and banking services through a network of more than 700 franchise locations. Brooke Franchise was named the 22nd largest U.S. insurance agency by Business Insurance magazine (2006) and the country's No. 37 top franchise by Entrepreneur magazine (2007). For more information, visit http://www.brookeagent.com/ . E-mail Distribution ... To receive electronic news alerts, visit the Brooke Corporation Media Room at http://brookecorp.mediaroom.com/ and subscribe to our e-mail alerts online through the Get the News link. DATASOURCE: Brooke Corporation CONTACT: Lisa Mussman, Brooke Corporation, +1-785-543-3199, Web site: http://www.brookecorp.com/

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