The establishment of a compelling brand lies at the heart of a franchise network's success. To maintain brand integrity, franchisors rely on franchisees to deliver the brand promise consistently. However, franchisee behaviour is sometimes difficult to manage, impacting negatively on the franchise brand. In adopting an internal brand management theoretical lens, this study provides new insight into the development of franchisees as brand champions. This is achieved through the empirical validation of a model, which encapsulates the dynamics of important antecedent variables (i.e. information generation, knowledge dissemination, the 'H' factor, role clarity, franchisee satisfaction, and brand commitment) in creating franchise brand champions. The findings provide significant theoretical and practical implications and lay the foundation for future research in this important research domain.