Gross Communications

Five for Friday: Dan Gross

By Aubrey Nagle
PhillyVoice Staff

Dan Gross spent much of his career hunting down (and writing up) all of Philadelphia's juiciest secrets. As the gossip columnist at the Daily News for nearly a decade, Gross reported on everything from the divorces of Philly socialites to the Alycia Lane mega-scandal of 2007. The bane of many a local celebrity and the idol of every local gossip hound, Gross left the Daily News in 2013 after 14 years.

Shortly afterward he began Gross Communications, a strategic public relations company that helps its clients engage with the media and recover from crises. Yes, after years of being the one revealing Philly's biggest scandals, Gross is using everything he learned to help unlucky victims recover from them. After all, who knows how to make a PR mess disappear faster than the King of Gossip himself?

PhillyVoice caught up with Gross to chat about what he's up to now and that secret talent you never knew he had...

By DanGross|August 21st, 2015|News|0 Comments

Jennifer Lawrence, Apple respond strongly to nude photo leaks

Jennifer Lawrence is a beautiful, talented and famous actress who thought her personal photos on her smartphone or computer were secured.

Until last weekend, that is. Lawrence was one of about a dozen entertainers who had personal nude photos stolen from her iCloud account by hackers who posted them on popular Internet sites.

Lawrence’s publicist Liz Mahoney responded fast, strong and perfectly, telling reporters: “This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.” Mahoney confirms Lawrence is the woman in the photos (while several other stars and their reps have not) and in doing so drives home the point, accurately, that Lawrence’s privacy was violated and the photos were stolen. Both true.

The unspoken message is that Lawrence taking nude photos is nothing shameful, but that someone stealing them and publishing them is.

The nude images also kept Apple busy over the Labor Day weekend. As the original posters of the images, which we are not linking to here, said they were taken through iCloud, Apple was forced to respond to the accusation and perception that its software application had been compromised. Upon hearing of the leaks many Apple users wondered if their pictures in their personal accounts could also be hacked.

On Monday, Apple said it was looking into whether celebrity accounts had been nefariously accessed and on Tuesday confirmed that indeed they had. According to the Associated Press, Apple said its investigation found that individual accounts had been compromised and that while these individuals were deliberately targeted and hacked, there was not a general breach involving its systems, including the iCloud and Find my iPhone services.

In some past photo leaks, […]

By DanGross|September 2nd, 2014|News|0 Comments

Ferguson tragedy illustrates importance of crisis communications

The ongoing situation in Ferguson, MO continues to illustrate the importance of having a crisis communication plan.

The August 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, by a white police officer, led to more than a week’s worth of protests by residents of all races.

There are accounts of a history of distrust between the community and the police department, and a proper crisis communication plan would not heal that overnight, nor bring the immediate justice sought by protesters, but it could have helped keep the situation under control.

While many protestors demanded the officer’s arrest, much of the protest was also about delayed release of information about the officer and the confrontation. This is in part because the public has received different timetables and assurances from varying police departments and state officials.

[…]

By DanGross|August 18th, 2014|News|0 Comments

Watch Dan Gross in the Documentary “Black and White and Dead All Over”

Gross Communications President Dan Gross was interviewed for “Black and White and Dead All Over,” a documentary on the decline of the newspaper industry. Before creating Gross Communications, Dan worked as a columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News and also led the Newspaper Guild, a union representing most of the employees at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. You can watch “Black and White and Dead All Over” below.

By DanGross|December 23rd, 2013|News|0 Comments

Dan Gross Discusses Social Media Management With KYW Newsradio

Gross Communications President Dan Gross recently discussed social media disasters and the importance of proper conduct with KYW Newsradio 1060.

By DanGross|October 9th, 2013|News|0 Comments