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Howard Luck Gossage

The Book of Gossage Paperback – March 23, 1995

by Howard Luck Gossage (Author)

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The Book of Gossage - 2nd Edition
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Thought provoking writings from The Socrates of San Francisco. With Stan Freberg and Jeff Goodby.

Print length

323 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Copy Workshop
Publication date

March 23, 1995
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0962141534
ISBN-13

978-0962141539
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Product information

Technical Details

Publisher

‎Copy Workshop; First Edition (March 23, 1995)

Language

‎English

Paperback

‎323 pages

ISBN-10

‎0962141534

ISBN-13

‎978-0962141539

Item Weight

‎2.25 pounds

Dimensions

‎6 x 1 x 9 inches

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Howard Luck Gossage

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5 star		84%
4 star		8%
3 star		8%
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RafaNieto

Recordar la publicidad de antaño

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

Para los estudiantes de publicidad, es un libro importantísimo, ahí están las bases de la comunicación comercial. Recomendable.

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Jason Shipp

A must-have book

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2014

Verified Purchase

If you work in advertising, you should have this on your self. Extremely insightful thinking. When we play the game about who we could "have dinner with" dead or alive, I always say Howard Luck Gossage.

3 people found this helpful

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Logan M. Tanner

Interesting book.

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2011

Verified Purchase

This book was recommended to me by a senior copywriter friend I met at an ad agency we worked at together.
It is quirky and strange, but a very interesting read. It's a fairly long book too.
If you're into advertising, this is an interesting perspective on our field.

One person found this helpful

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Brad Wieners

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2014

Verified Purchase

One of those rare books that makes you see everything fresh

2 people found this helpful

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Mike Ronkoske

Chief Marketing Officers Must Read.

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2013

Verified Purchase

“The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interest them, and sometimes it's an ad.” - Howard Luck Gossage

3 people found this helpful

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James Sadler

A Unique Book About a Unique Character

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2004

Howard Gossage was known as "The Socrates of San Francisco." This book is both by and about him and anyone involved in advertising should be thanking Bruce Bendinger for pulling this book together.
Gossage, was a copywriter who emerged in the 50s and 60s. A copywriter with a social conscious who eventually started his own agency and officed in a Firehouse in San Francisco.
He introduced the world to Marshall McLuhan, helped start Friends of the Earth, and was instrumental in a number of other socially aware organizations that emerged in the sixties. He was in many ways the anti-ad man, a writer who frequently used humor to great advantage, poking fun at the products he advertised, and probably can be credited with introducing the idea of using humor as a sales tool in advertising.
Unfortunately, he died in 1969 from leukemia, but his influence lives on in advertising to this day. After this book was published, Howard Gossage was essentially rediscovered and he was named one of the Top 100 Ad People of the Century (20th Century, that is).
If you are involved in creative advertising, read this book. Heck, put it under your pillow and sleep on it. Maybe osmosis actually works.

13 people found this helpful

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Brian Alexander

Hey Gossage, The Internet Could Use You

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2010

Many are saying he was ahead of his time. He was definitely ahead of mediums that could use his interactive approach. It would be very interesting to see what he would've done online. Gossage doesn't sugar coat the industry-he shoots it straight. It's refreshing to hear his criticisms on parts of the business model. Advertising is a privilege. Throughout he stresses doing better work by writing ads to your audience, not as if you're hijacking the medium to yell. His famous quote is, "nobody reads ads. They read what interests them and sometimes it's an ad." I wonder what his thoughts on much of the guerrilla and ambient advertising out there would be. He certainly expresses his disdain for billboards. His arguments are rooted in the reader/viewer's choice, which they don't have with billboards. They are granting permission when buying a magazine or can choose to change the channel. I'm not sure I feel it to his extent. Personally, billboards were welcome on boring drives on I-29 the last few years, but I guess I didn't have much say in the matter. Some of the coolest ads being done are ambient nowadays so maybe he would come around.

Famous campaigns he's responsible for include Pink Air, Eagle Shirtmakers, Whiskey Distillers of Ireland, and Beethoven Sweatshirts. His print ads take almost a direct mail approach with a coupon or survey often ending them. He can get away with this because the writing is fantastic. I'm really impressed with the conversational style and tone he uses for his clients. This makes sense, even reputable authors like John Steinbeck and Tom Wolfe liked to hang out with this "ad man."

The book covers a ton of ground so pick and choose topics from the table of contents. The introductory sections paint an interesting picture of the man. I enjoyed hearing about his habit of shades drawn working-tricking your brain into thinking it's dark out. I do that sometimes.

5 people found this helpful

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Number Nine

An entertaining history of a really strange man and his time

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 1999

Bruce Bendinger has done a real service to advertising by putting this book together. Not only does it give Gossage the attention he deserves, it gives us a capsule social history of a very interesting time. And it's full of little nuggets like this: In addition to introducing Marshall McLuhan to the world, Gossage bought him a decent pair of black socks so that Professor M could show up to a speaking engagement without looking like a rube. An interesting time to be in San Francisco and to be in advertising. If you care at all about advertising, you'll find this book fascinating.

16 people found this helpful

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DWLP

Smart. Witty. Smooth.

Reviewed in Canada on March 30, 2012

Verified Purchase

Worth every penny. This is a well written, well thought out book. I learnt a lot. For those who love advertising and have a place in their heart for the art of words.

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