Stories by Sophie Maerowitz

While the NAACP’s travel advisory for African Americans is only the most recent reference to airlines’ perceived discriminatory behavior toward travelers, its calling out of a specific brand perhaps augurs a new era of coordinated confrontation between mission-based nonprofit organizations and brands.

Dove is in crisis mode after running a Facebook advertisement many are calling racist. The ad, a GIF which featured a black woman removing her shirt to reveal a white woman, was pulled after being widely shared on social media and covered in national news outlets. Given how many brands fumble in getting across respectful messaging around race and diversity, it’s crucial for all communicators to ensure their brands have an internal review process for all content, including an employee culture that nixes off-mark messaging long before it reaches the public.

Artificial intelligence took center stage at today’s #MadeByGoogle launch event. The company unveiled a plethora of products aimed at an AI-focused future, including enhanced voice and visual search features in the Pixel 2 smartphone and Google Home device, as well as a beefed-up virtual reality headset, highlighting the company’s shift from “a mobile-first to an AI-first world.”

While some communicators may argue augmented reality’s relevance to brands has faded along with Pokémon GO fervor, recent developments at Snap Inc. and Toys ‘R’ Us indicate otherwise. Both companies have unrolled augmented reality (AR) offerings that encourage audience interaction with their products and drive a surprise-and-delight factor with users.

When it comes to abusive or inappropriate comments on a piece of branded content, many communicators will tell you: Don’t feed the trolls. Now Instagram has made it even easier to block the haters by unrolling a new feature that gives public Instagram accounts more power over who can comment on posts.

Mexico City is reeling from the devastation caused by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on Sept. 19, and much of the area has suffered electricity blackouts and downed cell service, roiling recovery efforts. But media outlets and government officials with access to power and cell service have taken to Twitter and Google to share evacuation instructions and request supplies.

PR professionals from around the globe came together at PR News’ Platinum PR and Agency Elite Awards luncheon at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on Sept. 14 to celebrate the winners and honorable mentions of PR News’ 2017 Agency Elite Awards. The Agency Elite awards benchmark excellence in PR agencies’ key practice areas, from advocacy, crisis communications and social media to internal communications, media relations and reputation management.

Hundreds of top brand and agency communicators gathered at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on Sept. 14 to celebrate the past year’s crowning achievements in communications and marketing at PR News’ 2017 Platinum PR Awards luncheon. The annual event benchmarks top communications campaigns and leaders in a wide array of categories. PR News also inducted six campaigns into its Platinum Hall of Fame, as well as announcing winners and honorable mentions of the 2017 Agency Elite Awards.

Pizza Hut is facing heat on social media after an internal memo, posted at one of the chain’s Jacksonville, Florida locations before Hurricane Irma made landfall in the area, threatened to punish employees that evacuated more than 24 hours before the storm. But while social media’s ire is centered on the Jacksonville location’s apparent disregard for employee safety, one key phrase in the memo, the location’s “commitment to the community,” raises an important point.

LinkedIn has rolled out a targeting tool for brands that sponsor content on the platform: Audience Network. The tool increases brands’ chances of their content appearing on audiences’ LinkedIn feeds, as well as—perhaps more excitingly—tracking users across the internet once they leave LinkedIn. Here are three ways brands can start experimenting with Audience Network.