LP Gas, April 2017

Paula Wilson Former AmeriGas marketing directors career path takes a familiar turn W hen Paula Wilson joined the Propane Education Research Council PERC as director of industry engagement in January she had to feel right at home The Philadelphia native has been with PERC from the beginning Her involvement with the council including as a committee member and councilor spans 20 years She also has served as its chairwoman and in the last year lent outside marketing support Wilson as PERC launched its national consumer education campaign Now the former marketing director at AmeriGas returns to PERC and LP Gas Editor in Chief Brian Richesson sought to learn more about her new role LP Gas What is the foundation of your new role with PERC Wilson My main focus and priority is to create and strengthen PERCs relationships directly with marketers PERC has been pretty consistent in making connections with nationwide companies and meeting with them once a year about PERC resources We felt we needed to do better outreach with regional companies and other multistate marketers So thats been my focus going out and conducting in person meetings with marketer companies I try to get face to face time with the owner president CEO COO and the management team and ideally somebody from sales and marketing to make sure theyre engaged with PERC offerings and resources and learn how we can best support their needs Its a sit down to talk about attitudes and where they think PERC priorities should be Its an open discussion about their opportunities and challenges over the next one to three years and seeing how that fits with PERC strategies Most importantly its bringing that discovery and those findings and conversations back to PERC staff so we can help to enhance PERC relationships and services with industry members I also have a new responsibility as the staff liaison to the PERC Advisory Committee Im also collaborating with staff on marketer outreach programs and with Pat Hyland PERCs director of industry programs on state association visits and special projects LP Gas So you are meeting with marketers on more than just the national consumer education campaign Wilson I try to cover the full scope of PERCs programs and outreach with marketers I want it to be an open and candid conversation with them but I also have specific questions to make sure I capture their thoughts and needs and bring that back to PERC staff How likely are you to recommend PERC to one of your colleagues or other marketers If they say not that likely you know you have more work to do Im trying to gauge their satisfaction with how PERC is now and how were working with them LP Gas Can you explain your strategy to connect with marketer companies Wilson I have a target list of 22 marketers this year I have 13 meetings planned with most occurring at their offices and Im also meeting with others at the National Propane Gas Associations Propane Expo and at the Western Convention My first meeting is in mid March and Im scheduled through June Its pretty good geographic coverage LP Gas What are your thoughts on the national consumer education campaign now in its second year Wilson From a consumer perspective we saw good results at least a 13 percentage point increase in favorability toward propane of people who saw the ads Thats good from where we came from especially after all those years of not being out there in the consumer market due to a government restriction Blue the dog seems to be resonating with consumers thats why we want to stick with that theme We have a commitment for three years with this campaign Blue the dog seems to be resonating with consumers Wilson says This year theres more focus on residential applications whereas last year was a general introduction of the product As always the challenge and opportunity is getting marketers involved in this and in general promoting their company at the same time ads are running LPG 10 LPGas April 2017 www LPGasmagazine com PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PROPANE EDUCATION RESEARCH COUNCIL