BEACON ENERGY NEWS RECENTLY SPOKE WITH JEFF GAULIN, VP OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR CAPP, ABOUT THE NEW STRATEGY. MARKHAM: Please give me an overview of the campaign. GAULIN: CAPP has started Canada’s Energy Citizen, which is a program and a platform that allows average Canadians to learn more about the oil and gas industry. And to be able to speak up in their social networks, and their public networks, and if they’re so inclined in their political networks. MARKHAM: Walk me through how this would work in a practical sense. GAULIN: People can sign up for Canada’s Energy Citizens online at Energycitizens.ca. They can follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter. And they can receive regular and timely information about the oil and gas industry. The type of stuff they might have use for at the office, or in their social networks, to share information about the oil and gas industry. To give them the courage to be able to speak up if they are supportive of our industry. MARKHAM: How many people have signed up so far? GAULIN: I believe we’ve got more than 10,000 people signed up right now. We really haven’t done a strong recruitment drive. We do know that there’s
a strong support for Canada’s oil and gas sector from coast to coast. And as the program becomes more public, as the participants begin to speak out more I think you’ll see that grow substantially. MARKHAM: What’s your target? GAULIN: We don’t have a target right now in terms of numbers. You know there’s 550,000 Canadians who are directly employed in Canada’s oil and gas industry. If we get only a fraction of them, even if we’ve got only one per cent, that’s more than 5,000 people who could speak up and stand up and support their industry. And that would have a tremendous influence on the tone and manner of conversation online, and in their communities. MARKHAM: Is this a social media strategy that attempts to get to influencers and arm them with information and have them share that with their networks? GAULIN: Social media is only one channel where we hope people will have conversations. You know they can have conversations at the hockey rink, at the company picnic. They can have it in line at Starbucks, they can have it at home at the family dinner table. There are many ways for people to begin to recognize that they’re not alone, they’re not wrong, and by speaking up they can defend an industry that has tremendous value to the community, economy, and our well-being.
OilfieldPULSE | MAY 2015
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