CARWASH MARKETING NERDS
Need a speaker for your upcoming event? Let us know! We try to always support our industry and be available to teach. Specialty topics include marketing, AI, social media, technology, websites, design, art, design psychology, art history. Also, Mel is a Navy veteran so people usually want her for representation purposes too. So it's you're looking for some nerds... you found us!
Carwash Education
Need a speaker for your next event? Let’s talk. (Ah puns, haha)
We believe in showing up for this industry and sharing what we know. Our specialty topics include marketing, AI, social media, technology, websites, design, design psychology, and art history—all through the lens of real carwash experience.
Mel is also a Navy veteran, which makes us a great fit for events looking to highlight leadership, representation, and unconventional paths into the industry. If you’re looking for polished keynote speakers… that’s not us. We’re builders who love to teach. We’ve worked alongside operators and manufacturers, built real marketing systems, and figured out what actually works (and what doesn’t). We bring that straight to the stage—no fluff, no theory.
We host Q&As, speak at events, record podcasts, and lead hands-on sessions. Everything we share is practical, current, and grounded in real-world experience. Technology is moving fast. We are too.
Looking for marketing, technology, carwash, or history nerds?
You found us.
Marketing & Design Education
What started as freelance graphic design grew into a full marketing agency. Design requests became website requests, and website requests became social media requests. Each time the tides changes, Mel built a new platform and process to accommodate the new requests. In 2022, it became more than she could do on her own and her husband, Mike Ohlinger, joined as Director of Operations and Organizational Development (the DOOD) bringing with him a background in technical writing from the water treatment industry.
Between the two of them, OhmCo had graphic design, operations, client relationships, and deep industry knowledge all under one agency umbrella.
Today OhmCo serves carwash operators across the country (and the world) with six specialized labs for web design, social media, graphic design/project management, signage, data, and now digital signage too! OhmCo's labs are built on a proprietary platform we own and run ourselves. We're independent, we're carwash-centered, and we're still the same studio that gets genuinely excited about a new wash install, a new wash menu or a weird mascot.
Mel Ohlinger
THE CEO
Navy veteran. Morse code specialist. Design Director. Carwash obsessive. Mel founded OhmCo after years designing for the industry and realizing no one was doing it right. She's spoken at The Carwash Show on AI in carwash marketing, represented independent small businesses at the White House Small Business Forum, and helped pass paid family leave in Minnesota. She's also a painter and a mother of two — in no particular order.
Mike Ohlinger
THE DOOD
Director of Operations & Organizational Development
Mike joined OhmCo full-time in 2022, bringing a background in technical writing and documentation from the water treatment industry — user manuals, price books, installation guides. Turns out that translates beautifully to carwash: clear communication, organized systems, zero tolerance for things that don't make sense. He runs operations, keeps the trains on time, and has a deep personal interest in hardware synthesizers if you ever want to go down that rabbit hole.
