Marci Werlinich is VP of Membership and Administration at the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). She’s spent her entire 30 year professional career serving the OAAA and its members. Marci focuses on membership recruitment, event planning, human resources and information technology. Marci was elected to the OAAA Hall of Fame in 2011.
Marci, how did you happen to join the OAAA?
When I was a teenager living in Northwestern Pennsylvania, my father brought the family to Washington on a business trip. I remember seeing women in business suits carrying briefcases and being impressed with how confident they looked in this powerful but beautiful city. Fast forward to February 1986 when a friend suggested I come to visit and look for a job. I went on three interviews on a Monday and left on Wednesday after accepting the position as the receptionist at OAAA. Two weeks later I returned to start my career with OAAA.
What occupies the largest portion of your time?
Membership recruitment and retention are my primary focus at OAAA.
Can you give us a sense of scale of the OAAA (e.g. members or employees or operating budget)?
OAAA has a small but dedicated staff of 12 who serve nearly 800 member companies.
Billboard Insider’s readership consists of lots of small independent outdoor advertising companies. What benefits can OAAA offer a small outdoor advertising company?
- OAAA is an extension of their staff, with 24/7 help on sales, creative, and regulations. OAAA just heard from an independent company trying to figure out 200 pages of complicated new rules from the US Department of Labor regarding financial advisers. Our legal counsel translated it — at no fee — to a long paragraph in clear English.
- OAAA tools help account execs and principals: local case studies, creative testing tool, OOH resource center app, and research for sales and public affairs.
- When advertisers and ad agencies are looking for billboards and other OOH inventory, they go to the OOH Media Locator on the OAAA website.
Who do I contact at OAAA if I want to learn more about membership?
I can be reached directly by phone at 202.776.1848 or by email at mwerlinich@oaaa.org.
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