Welcome to the Firebrand Tech & Media Culture Awards 2023, where we’re taking a break from writing useful content to reflect on the chaos and trends that defined our little corner of the universe.

To be clear, this isn’t exactly a year-end round-up (this is much less important). We’re here to acknowledge the moments that made us laugh, fret, and shake our heads in disbelief. The Firebrand Culture Awards has it all: from the breaking news that kept us glued to our laptops to the everyday absurdities of agency life and the pop culture phenomenons we tried to use as news hooks.

As we say farewell to a year that started with UFOs and spy balloons and ended with generative AI, let’s give 2023 the accolades it deserves.

**Best threat to PR:** Gen Z, Generative AI, journalists

**Best threat to journalism**: Gen Z, Generative AI, PR reps

**Best performance we saw**: OpenAI’s _Succession_ crossover, crypto after the FTX crash, chatbots [professing their love](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-microsoft-chatgpt.html), a holistic white-hat SEO strategy

**Best performance we never saw coming**: OpenAI’s _Succession_ crossover, Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski trial, people actually going back to the office

**Best moment in history this year**: The _Eras_ and _Renaissance_ tours [stimulating the US economy](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/business/beyonce-taylor-swift-tour-spending.html), [New York Times suing OpenAI](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/new-york-times-sues-microsoft-and-openai-alleging-copyright-infringement-fd85e1c4), the SVB collapse, [Firebrand winning a PRSA award](https://www.firebrand.marketing/2023/06/firebrand-wins-prsa-silver-anvil-award-for-best-boutique-pr-agency/)!

**Best book to recommend (did read):** _Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and THE WASHINGTON POST_ by Martin Baron, _Radical Candor_ by Kim Scott, _Extremely Online_ by Taylor Lorenz

**Best book to recommend (didn’t read):** _Democracy Awakening_ by Heather Cox Richardson, _Victory City_ by Salman Rushdie_, The Deluge_ by Stephen Markley

**Best blockbuster sequel that made us think we could’ve written a better script:** Mission Impossible 7, Indiana Jones 5, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Avatar 2, Magic Mike 3

**Best VR eyewear we’ll buy when it’s cheaper:** Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest 3, Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses

**Best news we heard all week:** Wired digital subscriptions are [on sale](https://www.wired.com/v2/offers/wir203?source=Site_0_HCL_WIR_EDIT_HARDCODED_0_COMMERCE_AFFILIATE_ZZ\)) for $5, [space tech](https://www.businessinsider.com/space-tech-sector-is-taking-off-thanks-to-ai-2023-12) is booming right now (full circle moment much?), that jacket we liked is back in stock

**Best three-word response to our very long strategy emails:** “Sounds good, thanks”

**Best length for a blog post:** 600 words

**Best meeting duration:** 45 minutes (1-hour meeting), 11 minutes (half-hour meeting)

**Best idea we had:** refreshing VMware’s [social media visuals](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/avi-networks-inc_why-you-need-modern-load-balancers-to-scale-activity-7112843145242935297-2tB_?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop), [data-driven PR campaigns](https://www.firebrand.marketing/2023/11/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting-data-coverage/), leveraging [FDA news at CES](https://www.fastcompany.com/90830531/hearing-aids-innovation-sony-sennheiser-ces)

**Best idea we didn’t have:** [The Grimace Shake](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/style/grimace-milkshake.html), [Barbie selfie generator](https://www.barbieselfie.ai/), [olive oil in a squeeze bottle](https://www.fastcompany.com/90888563/the-hottest-drama-on-linkedin-is-this-fight-about-olive-oil-bottle-design)

**Best skill to have**: Microsoft Excel, the ability to politely say no, a sense of curiosity

**Best thing we listened to:** “[lofi hip hop radio 📚 – beats to relax/study to](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfKfPfyJRdk),” the sweet sound of a Slack DM, construction on our street

**Best founder:** Morgan McLintic, the founding fathers

**The** **_Fresh Air_** **Award for Excellence in Podcasting:** [FiredUp! – The Startup Marketing Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/1HFWMXDNzAoSI2KGaAYVFR?si=bd63b822bdf94a29)

**Most iconic voice in podcasting:** [Richard Bagnall](https://www.firebrand.marketing/podcast/episode-12-how-to-measure-pr-with-richard-bagnall/), [Ilona Hitel](https://www.firebrand.marketing/podcast/episode-9-starting-pr-in-the-uk-with-ilona-hitel/), [Travis Van](https://www.firebrand.marketing/podcast/episode-14-the-latest-tech-pr-tactics-with-travis-van/)

**Best Slack emoji that says “Read your message but have nothing to add”:** **🙏 👍** 🤠 🤘 🫡 😎 💯

Congratulations to this year’s winners and our deepest regrets to those who feel snubbed. It was a competitive year with news, social media trends, and technology that changed culture as we know it. Here’s hoping that 2024 will be just as memorable (but with fewer bank collapses). Bring it on.