PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards Honor the Year’s Best in Communications

Top Hat and Red Havas win Best in Show for Perfect Scores; PPG’s Bryan Iams Inducted into PRSA Pittsburgh Hall of Fame

On Thursday, Jan. 30, nearly 250 of the region’s most talented communicators, marketers and public relations professionals gathered at the Pittsburgh Playhouse to celebrate the PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards presented by Red Havas.

John Chamberlin and Rachael Rennebeck, hosts of the YaJagoff!!! Podcast, emceed the annual ceremony, which honors the best of the year’s communications campaigns, tactics and individual practitioners.

PRSA Pittsburgh distributed 87 awards to local agencies, corporations and nonprofit organizations. Impartial judges from the PRSA Western Michigan chapter reviewed the entries. Campaigns included work on some of the most recognizable brands such as Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, Duquesne Light Company, Highmark, Pittsburgh International Airport, I.C. Light Beer, Peoples Natural Gas, PPG Paints, Primanti Bros., S&T Bank, VisitPITTSBURGH and many more.

Bryan Iams, PPG VP of Corporate and Government Affairs, was honored with the Renaissance Hall of Fame Award; while John Pepper, Director of Communications and Marketing at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, received the Communicator of the Year Award.

Top Hat and Red Havas took home Best in Show for their campaigns which received perfect scores from the judges.

In addition, the PR community paid tribute to Markowitz Communications and Veritas Communications Advisors for their crisis management work for the Tree of Life tragedy.

PRSA Pittsburgh thanks its generous sponsors: BCW, Covalent, EM Media, Point Park University School of Communication, Red Havas, StudioME and WordWrite. See the complete list of winners below.

2020 PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Award Winners

Renaissance Individual Awards

• Hall of Fame – Bryan Iams, PPG
• Communicator of the Year – John Pepper, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
• PR Team of the Year – VisitPITTSBURGH
• Rising Star Award – Stacey Federoff, Point Park University
• PR Entrepreneur of the Year – Aire Plitchta Reese, Aire Reese Consulting
• PRSA Member of the Year – Brian Ackermann, Red Havas
• PRSSA Chapter of the year – Waynesburg University
• Bob O’Gara Student Scholarship – Nicole Tobias, Waynesburg University

Campaigns

B2B Campaigns

Renaissance Awards

• Red Havas, Costa: Kicking Plastic in the Optical Industry
• Red Havas, Transitions Academy, Light Years Ahead
• Red Havas, Transitions Change Agents
• Red Havas, Transitions Signature GEN 8 Launch
• WordWrite & Foothold Studios, New Pig Launches National Safety Month Program to Recognize the Country’s Safest Floors and Workspaces

Award of Merit

• BCW, Joining Forces with a Global Powerhouse to Benefit the Small
  Business Owner
• Red Havas, Leveraging Industry Best Practices from the Transitions Innovation Awards

Content Marketing

Renaissance Awards

• Brunner, The Home Depot Rental 2019 Content Marketing Campaign
• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh
• WordWrite & Foothold Studios, New Pig Launches National Safety Month Program to Recognize the Country’s Safest Floors and Workspaces

Award of Merit

• Brunner, G4A 2019 Content Strategy

Crisis Communications

Renaissance Award

• Markowitz Communications and Veritas Communications Advisors, Tree of Life: Effectively Managing a Multitude of Crisis Communications Challenges and Issues Involving the Deadliest Anti-Semitic Attack in U.S. History

Digital

Renaissance Awards

• Pipitone Group, Peoples Natural Gas – Let’s Talk Energy: Construction Heat Digital Campaign
• VisitPITTSBURGH, Pull Up a Chair. You are Welcomed Here!

Award of Merit

• Pipitone Group, Presbyterian SeniorCare Network, Careers with Heart Recruitment Digital Campaign

Events

Renaissance Awards

• BCW, Experiencing the Evolution of Color with the PPG Paint Brand
• Gatesman, #BALovesPittsburgh: Launching a Nonstop Flight from Pittsburgh
• Red Havas, Transitions Academy, Light Years Ahead

Award of Merit

• Gatesman, The Second Annual MBA Summit: Committing to Conversation to Position Michigan Ross for Success
• Think Communications, Inc. & Primanti Bros., Love at First Bite

Influencer Relations

Renaissance Awards

• BCW, Experiencing the Evolution of Color with the PPG Paint Brand
• BCW, Bank of America and Apple Pay Tap Their Way to Social Media Success
• Brunner, FY19 Musselman’s and Lucky Leaf Influencer Campaigns
• Mindful Kreative, The Arthritis Foundation’s “Get A Grip on Arthritis” Influencer Campaign
• Red Havas, Transitions Change Agents (BEST IN SHOW)

Awards of Merit

• BCW, A New View of Influencers and Office Depot: Influencer Campaign
• WordWrite, XO, KB: Influencer Campaign Turns Customers into Friends

Integrated Marketing Campaign

Renaissance Awards

• BCW, Leviton Load Center: Every Circuit Tells a Story
• Gatesman, Increasing Customer Satisfaction for Duquesne Light Company by Putting the Customer First
• Gatesman, If Nobody Gives, Nobody Gets: Moving the Needle on Organ Donation

Awards of Merit

• Brunner, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream 30th Anniversary IMC
• Senator John Heinz History Center, Destination Moon Integrated Marketing Campaign
• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh

Media Relations

Renaissance Awards

• Gatesman, Capitalizing on a Monumental Milestone to Hijack Headlines
• Red Havas, Costa: Kicking Plastic in the Optical Industry
• Red Havas, Curiosity Cube® Ignites Passion in STEM
• Red Havas, Leveraging Industry Best Practices from the Transitions Innovation Awards
• WordWrite, Landing the Whale: Attracting Higher-net-Worth Financial
• WordWrite, From Negative to Positive, Caliente’s Stories Resonate with Pittsburgh Community and Beyond

Awards of Merit

• BCW, Heading Back-To-School Proud with Office Depot and Mario Lopez – National Media Relations
• BCW, SAE International Steps Forward to Advance Safe Performance, Testing and Development of Autonomous Vehicles – National Media Relations
• Brunner, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream 2019 Media Relations
• Field General, 814 Day
• Highmark Inc. PR Team, Highmark “War on Opioids”

New Products and Services

Renaissance Awards

• BCW, Making Office Depot Worth the Extra Click and Trip – New Product and Service Communications
• BCW, Leviton Decora Smart Voice Dimmer: Breaking Through the Noise
• Red Havas, Transitions Signature GEN 8 Launch
• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh
• WordWrite & Foothold Studios, New Pig Launches National Safety Month Program to Recognize the Country’s Safest Floors and Workspaces

Awards of Merit

• BCW, Leviton Load Center: Every Circuit Tells a Story
• Pipitone Group, Peoples Natural Gas – Let’s Talk Energy: Combined Heat and Power Campaign

Regulated Communications

Renaissance Awards

• Beyond Spots & Dots, Pittsburgh Fire Fighters: Fire Ops 101
• BCW, A New Day for an Old Retailer

Reputation Management

Renaissance Awards

• Gatesman, Overcoming Negative Perceptions of Pace’s ADA Paratransit Service Through Education
• South Fayette Township, South Fayette Community Day
• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh

Awards of Merit

• Pittsburgh International Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport Launches Blue Sky News
• Red Havas, Curiosity Cube ® Ignites Passion in STEM
• WordWrite, From Negative to Positive, Caliente’s Stories Resonate with Pittsburgh Community and Beyond

Social Media

Renaissance Awards

• Gatesman, Now #Trending: S&T Bank’s Name That Lange Campaign
• Senator John Heinz History Center, History Center Shoots for the Moon with #MoonBox Campaign

Award of Merit

• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh

Student Campaign (NEW CATEGORY)

Awards of Merit

• Point Park University, COR Carnival – Game for the Gift of Life
• Waynesburg University, Comm 3:1 Campaign

Tactics

Multimedia

Renaissance Awards

• Brunner, The Home Depot Rental Stop Motion Video Series
• Gatesman, Carts are a lot like Hearts: Connecting Social Norms to Organ Donation
• Pipitone Group, Presbyterian SeniorCare Network: Uniquely You Recruitment Videos
• Pittsburgh International Airport, A Perfect Place for Presley
• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh
• WordWrite & Foothold Studios, New Pig Launches National Safety
• Month Program to Recognize the Country’s Safest Floors and Workspaces

Award of Merit

• Pipitone Group, Peoples Natural Gas – Let’s Talk Energy: Combined Heat
  and Power Videos

Promotional

Renaissance Awards

• Think Communications, Inc. & JDRF Western Pennsylvania, 27th Annual Promise Gala
• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh (BEST IN
  SHOW)

Written Content

Renaissance Awards

• WordWrite, Redefining Earned Media in 100 Words, The Pittsburgh 100

Awards of Merit

• BCW, Behind the Curtain: Realizing the full Potential of Additive Manufacturing Requires Leadership not Wizardry
• Top Hat, Reclaiming the Light Beer Throne in Pittsburgh
• WordWrite & Foothold Studios, New Pig Launches National Safety Month Program to Recognize the Country’s Safest Floors and Workspaces