In recent years, chains and franchises have started to dominate the business landscape. With massive economies of scale, they can source and promote their products at far lower cost than their independent competitors.

Marketing is one area where business can gain a real advantage from economies of scale. When 100 franchised stores pool their marketing budget, they can create a household name. Yet, each store's share of that budget may only be enough for a spot in the local paper.

Given the need for economies of scale, we've launched our own. By working with a collection of non-competing businesses selling similar products, we've been able to significantly cut the cost of marketing.

We're currently providing marketing support to independent pizza stores from just a few dollars a day. The marketing materials include menus, posters, magnets, and websites. They share some common elements, but they are individually tailored for each store. Thus, stores retain full autonomy, while benefiting from economies of scale.

This is the first of a series of projects in development, which we hope helps level the marketing playing field for small business.