Winning Excellence: Poolwerx Celebrates with Major Wins At Franchise Industry Awards

Poolwerx is celebrating a successful night at the prestigious Franchise Industry Awards (FIA), taking home two major accolades, including Excellence in Franchise Innovation and Marketing Manager of the Year.

The wins highlight Poolwerx’s leadership in scalable innovation, recognising systems and solutions designed to improve consistency, efficiency and performance across the entire network. Alongside individual talent and marketing strength, they reinforce the organisation’s ability to turn innovation into measurable outcomes for franchise partners.

“Winning at the Franchise Industry Awards reflects the strength of our network and the dedication of our franchise partners,” said Nic Brill, Global CEO of Poolwerx.

“As one global family, our focus remains franchisee success and profitability. By investing in innovation that improves both client experience and franchise partner efficiency, we’re driving stronger outcomes across the network. This recognition from the FCA reflects the power of collaboration, innovation and a commitment to excellence”

The network’s commitment to innovation was recognised with winning the Excellence in Franchise Innovation award for its Healthy Pool Plan (HPP), a solution developed to address the inefficiencies and inconsistencies of traditional paper-based pool inspections while creating greater value for clients.

Originally developed to digitise paper-based inspections, the Healthy Pool Plan (HPP) evolved into a full redesign of the technician and client experience. The AI-assisted, mobile-first platform enables real-time assessments, personalised reporting and on-the-spot recommendations from a single system.

By streamlining administration, improving consistency and delivering clear, actionable pool health insights, HPP enhances efficiency for franchise partners while strengthening client trust and engagement. It has since become a scalable benchmark for innovation within the network and is now being adopted internationally.

Poolwerx’s marketing strength was also in the spotlight, with Global Chief Marketing Officer, Nicola Votier taking home the title of Marketing Manager of the Year. Nicola was celebrated for delivering high-impact, integrated campaigns that strengthened brand awareness and generated strong lead pipelines across the franchise network.

Over the past 12 months, Nicola has led a series of integrated marketing initiatives that have delivered measurable commercial outcomes for franchise partners, including a 20% increase in Early Buy program adoption, a 5% uplift in retail average transaction value and overall retail sales growth exceeding 111% year-on-year in 2024. Her leadership has also delivered standout campaign results, including record-breaking seasonal sales and the strongest robot promotion in Poolwerx history.

Beyond campaign performance, Nicola has helped build long-term capability across the network through scalable initiatives such as the Healthy Pool Plan and Campaign in a Box, supporting a consistent, high-performing marketing delivery system-wide.

Nic Brill adds, "We're incredibly proud to see Nicola recognised with this award. Nicola has been instrumental in elevating the Poolwerx brand while ensuring our marketing efforts deliver meaningful results for franchise partners. From driving record campaign performance to supporting innovation across the network, her leadership has had a measurable impact on our business.

Further demonstrating the strength of Poolwerx’s internal support structure, Phil Colburn was recognised as a finalist in the Field Manager of the Year category. This recognition reflects his outstanding dedication to driving operational excellence and profitability for partners in the QLD, Northern NSW, FNQ and NT regions.

The Franchise Industry Awards judges praised the brand’s holistic approach to network health and franchise relations.

"The Franchise Industry Awards exist to celebrate the absolute pinnacle of business excellence, collaboration, and dedication within our sector," said Jay Westbury, CEO FCA. "Poolwerx and its partners have demonstrated exactly what makes franchising so powerful: a deeply ingrained culture of support, relentless innovation, and an unwavering commitment to the success of individual local business owners. They are incredibly deserving of this high-level industry recognition."

As Poolwerx continues to expand across Australia, New Zealand and the United States, the company remains focused on investing in the systems, capability and support that enable franchise partners to succeed and deliver exceptional outcomes for clients, with further industry recognition anticipated.