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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.

All communicators are tasked with crafting clear, concise and interesting messages and pitches. Communicators in the technology field have the additional difficulty of translating arcane, jargon-laden ideas into plain English. More than that, the pace of products and ideas flooding the market can cause headaches. Tips that tech communicators use to manage the load can help PR pros in any field.

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.

As Katie Paine wrote about Bell Pottinger in PR News this past July, “PR counselors long have argued that ethics are critical and apologies, honesty and transparency are the best cures in a crisis. It’s a bit mind-boggling when one of the world’s leading PR firms ignores its own advice.” This was before its recent death spiral.

There’s nothing like doing PR for a much-anticipated, star-studded event, such as the Mayweather-McGregor fight. What about when you’re asked to get people riled about seemingly mundane issues such as the country’s infrastructure? Here are a few tactics PR pros can employ that will help make un-sexy issues seem far more relevant to average citizens.

PR News recently asked its community to tell us who should be listed among the top game-changers of PR in the last few years. Here, we look at Natalie Boden, founder and president of BODEN, an agency that boasts such clients as Target, McDonald’s and United Healthcare among its growing roster. Boden has dedicated her career to diversifying the PR industry, a dream that reflects her own unique background.

Our weekly roundup of trends, news and personnel moves in PR and marketing. Stories this week include the demise of Bell Pottinger, Doug Busk’s new position, the FTC confronting influencers directly and older citizens getting their news via social media.

The cruise ship industry is often on the wrong end of crisis communications, but Hurricane Irma has given Royal Caribbean the chance to show its humanitarian side, even as it deals with pressing customer service issues on social media. The Miami-based company is mobilizing four of its ships to help people in need with food, water and other supplies, in coordination with the federal government as well as local governments in St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Marking any tragedy, let alone one of the most tragic events to happen in the history of the United States, is not a time to make it “all about you.” For your average brand, the only time it is a good idea to insert yourself into the message is if you have something of value to offer that is intrinsic to the brand (and you have a clear-eyed perspective on what “value” means to the public).

On the surface, Equifax seemed to respond to its data breach in textbook fashion. It issued an apology both in writing and in a video. The brand also set up a web site where consumers could check if their data had been compromised. A deeper dive, though, shows Equifax may have committed several costly errors in terms of crisis response. An early lesson from Equifax’s crisis is that merely having a crisis plan is not enough. Execution of the plan is critical, too.