American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2017 - 86

ConventionCoverage: Permian Basin Petroleum Association

Pork Producers Offer Crucial Lessons
MIDLAND-The oil and gas industry
would be wise to take a cue from the
country's pork producers, SM Energy
President and Chief Executive Officer
Javan "Jay" Ottoson told the Permian
Basin Petroleum Association. Specifically,
he suggested, the people who produce
hydrocarbons can learn a lot from the
people who launched a long and successful
campaign to get Americans to recognize
pork as "the other white meat."
Ottoson discussed how SM Energy
was emulating that effort during the membership luncheon on the second day of
PBPA's annual convention, held Oct. 2526 at the Midland Petroleum Club.
Also at the meeting, PBPA Chairman
Clint Walker, general manager of Cudd
Energy Services in Midland, mentioned
some of the group's public outreach initiatives. Another speaker who reflected
on oil and gas advocates' need to help
the public better understand and appreciate
the value the industry created was New
Mexico Oil & Gas Association President
Ryan Flynn, who-along with Texas Railroad Commission Chairwoman Christi
Craddick-spoke during the annual meeting's kick-off breakfast.
The conference also included a panel
of service and supply company executives
and a panel of producing company executives.
Service company panel participants
were:
* James E. Newman, senior vice president of region operations for Basic Energy
Services;

* Edward Lauer, chief financial officer
for Lucky Services;
* Chris Gatjanis, Permian Basin area
vice president at Halliburton; and
* Moderator Pat Bond, co-CEO of
Gravity Oilfield Services.
Producing company panel participants
were:
* Jeffrey Balmer, vice president and
general manager for Permian Basin operations at Encana Oil & Gas;
* Steven H. Pruett, president and
CEO of Elevation Resources LLC;
* Thomas Hellman, vice president
of Permian operations for Marathon Oil
Co.; and
* Moderator Kyle McGraw, executive
vice president and chief data officer for
Legacy Reserves.

Filling A Need
If oil and gas actually were as dirty
and obsolete as their opponents claim,
Ottoson reasoned, it would be better for
energy companies to embrace superior
fuels. "If there really are technologies
and advancements that will make people's
lives better, and our country more secure
and prosperous, I am all for them," he insisted. "The problem is people who simply
want our industry to go away, and who
seem unburdened by any technological
realities, concern about energy security
and, frankly, even the impoverishment
of their neighbors. These people, unfortunately, are winning converts to their
way of thinking."
Similarly, Ottoson compared, the Na-

PBPA President Ben Shepperd (right) greets NMOGA
Executive Director Ryan Flynn. Flynn's remarks at
PBPA's breakfast meeting
emphasized how important
it was for the industry to tell
its story and counteract misinformation.

86 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

tional Pork Board discerned that the industry it represented faced a crossroads
when it launched "The Other White Meat"
campaign in 1987. "At that time, there
was a big health scare about eating red
meat," he recalled. "The pork producers
were afraid the chicken and turkey industries were going to run right over
them. So they came up with this very effective campaign."
According to Ottoson, the campaign
involved three aspects:
* A check-off program into which
pork producers across the country contributed;
* An entirely positive campaign that
focused on pork products; and
* The best outreach media available
at the time.
"There was no chest beating about
how great they were at making pork, nor
any discussion of how making pork was
a moral enterprise," he characterized.
"There were a lot of great images of
pork chops and people enjoying them."
The best methods available for spreading
that message in 1987 included print ads,
billboards and television, Ottoson recalled.
But three decades later, he argued, such an
undertaking should focus on the Internet.
"Our opponents have employees who
do nothing but engage with disgruntled
people through social media channels and
encourage anti-industry comment and activism," he related. "We need to get on the
Web . . . to have conversations with people
about how our products make it possible
for them to live the lives they love."
Therefore, he reported, SM Energy
has created an online digital platform
called "lookbeyond.org" with educational
content that informs members of its audience about the considerable extent to
which petroleum-based products improve
their everyday lives.
"Why SM Energy?" Ottoson posed.
"It is not that expensive to set up something
to start making progress on these issues.
We decided it might be more effective to
have an operating demonstration of something already working when we tried to
convince people to join."
Ottoson showed some of the site's
features via video, cited favorable Web
metrics to indicate the project was gaining
traction, and urged oil and gas companies
to broaden the effort by:
* Linking to the site and using its
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