AAPL | Introducing Landmen to the Public
In recent years, American landmen have faced a reputation crisis. Reports began to surface that landmen—the men and women who negotiate drilling leases with landowners on behalf of energy companies—were not operating ethically. In reality, many of America’s land professionals are members of the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL).
It was clear to AAPL that an introduction was in order. In summer 2013, AAPL partnered with Pierpont Communications to develop a national advertising campaign, appropriately titled “Meet Us” to educate American landowners about the role of landmen in their communities.
The overall goal of the “Meet Us” campaign was to build awareness among landowners of the land profession and AAPL members’ commitment to working professionally and ethically. The campaign was specifically designated to run in U.S. regions with existing and emerging shale plays including: Midland, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas (Barnett); Austin and San Antonio, Texas (Eagle Ford); Houston, Texas and New Orleans, La. (Haynesville-Bossier); Albany, NY, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburg, Penn. (Marcellus); Fresno and Los Angeles, Calif. (Monterrey); Evansville, Ind. (New Albany); Denver, Colo. (Niobrara); and Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla. (Woodford).
By every measure, the AAPL “Meet Us” Campaign met its intended goals of building awareness among landowners and introducing landowners to AAPL and its Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. This included attaining 28.2 million impressions among national media outlets, regional media markets and targeted trade publications with 136,615 click-throughs from the ads to the videos. Additionally, the campaign picked up 13 earned media placements, including Associations Now, IHS Weekly and American Oil & Gas Reporter.