Watauga Group, a media buying and planning agency offering omnichannel media expertise with leading-edge research capabilities, was recently certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
Leslie Osborne founded Watauga Group in 2004 as an independent media agency with a unique channel agnostic view and capability, allowing research and insights to guide the media strategy. Over the last two decades, she has developed and mentored an exceptional team of media experts that includes women in key positions across the agency. Under this leadership, the agency successfully connects clients’ brands with customers by creating and executing insight-driven, market-centric media strategies across a wide spectrum of industries including Outdoor & Recreation brands, Travel & Tourism, CPG, and Franchises among others.
“I founded Watauga Group to pull together a focused team of media professionals who are creative, independent thinkers who will consistently challenge the expected and push boundaries,” Leslie Osborne said. “Gaining certification and support by the WBENC is an honor and an achievement as a business owner. It recognizes women are ambitious leaders in the marketing industry and many of us have built successful businesses, influence strategy, and help set trends.”
Businesses must meet a meticulous certification process required by the WBENC, including an extensive company review with an onsite inspection. This rigorous process was created to validate the business is at a minimum 51% controlled, operated, and owned by a woman or women. Another mandate requires that the company utilize other women-owned businesses among its suppliers to demonstrate a commitment to fostering diversity in supplier programs.
“There are 13 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., representing 42% of all businesses. Yet there is still a significant disparity in revenue and capital between these businesses and others,” said a spokesperson for WBENC. “WBENC is helping bridge that gap through access to opportunities and programs that accelerate growth, and campaigns to influence consumer buying behaviors.”
About Watauga:
Founded in 2004, Watauga Group is an independent, omnichannel media agency with offices in Orlando, Atlanta, and Birmingham. While many advertisers use a “one-size fits all” media strategy resulting in subpar performance and ROAS, Watauga Group provides clients the market-driven and media-agnostic solutions necessary for success in today’s increasingly complex world of new media channels, audience segments, and market variations. Watauga Group uniquely combines comprehensive media expertise and capabilities in TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, Digital Display, Paid Search, Paid Social, OTT, and Programmatic – framed by intelligent insights and data using MRI, Nielsen, Comscore, Scarborough, Kantar, and more. A WBENC certified women-owned business, Watauga Group serves clients in the Outdoor & Recreation, Travel & Tourism, CPG, Retail, and B2B industries among others.
About WBENC:
Founded in 1997, WBENC is the nation’s leader in women’s business development and the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women, with more than 17,000 certified Women’s Business Enterprises, 14 national Regional Partner Organizations, and more than 350 corporate members. More than 1,000 corporations representing America’s most prestigious brands, as well as many states, cities, and other entities, accept WBENC Certification. For more information, visit www.wbenc.org.
