Howard Gossage

Howard Luck Gossage ( born August 30, 1917 in Chicago, † July 9, 1969 ) was an American copywriter and art director in the 1960s, particularly in German-speaking countries and in the United States with his critical remarks about advertising sensation excited. His most important book, if the advertising is there still hope? , 1967 initiated by Barrows Mussey in Germany, translated and published after this article Gossages had read in various magazines. It was not until twenty years after the surprising success in German-speaking countries was found in the USA, a publisher.

Life

Gossage was born in 1917. He studied at the Universities of Kansas City, Paris and Geneva. During WW2 he was a fighter pilot. With 36 years he joined the advertising. Gossage was his second wife, Sally Kemp, a Broadway and film actress, married. He opened his agency Freeman, Mander & Gossage, 1957 in San Francisco. In 1969, he died of leukemia.

Work

Gossages movement impresses with its unique way of writing and designing ads. The majority of the ads looked more like newspaper articles, consisted of a lot of text, usually with a picture, a title which was often a complete set, and an obligate coupon. Most ads were episodes of a series and connected to a contest or other active participation on the part of the viewer. Gossage showed an unusual sensitivity to the mood of the viewer and spoke to them in a humorous way. He seemed to understand better than other applicants, where the boundaries of advertising and are managed to allow these insights to flow into his work.

Known series of advertisements he realized for companies such as Eagle Shirtmakers, G. Heileman Brewing Company, Land Rover, Petrofina, Qantas and Whiskey Distillers of Ireland. The first major international Swissair campaign has also taken up Gossages ideas.

For the scientific journal Scientific American, he has announced an international paper airplane contest, which received nearly 12,000 entries from all over the world.

With a series of three ads for Sierra Club reached Gossage that the plans were dropped for a Grand Canyon Dam in the U.S. Congress.

Influence

Gossage was a friend of Marshall McLuhan, John Steinbeck, Tom Wolfe and Leopold Kohr. He is considered the discoverer of McLuhan, the first time he has been invited to the U.S. for a lecture. He was also known to the advertising man David Ogilvy, whose Rolls Royce display he satirized in a Land Rover display and with whom he shared an aversion to outdoor advertising.

• Is advertising still be saved? Econ, Dusseldorf 1967, DNB 456,786,279th ( second edition Hörzu, Hamburg, 1987, OCLC 314 659 920 ) English: Is there any hope for advertising? University of Illinois Press, Chicago, 1987 ( reissued as The Book of Gossage. Copy Workshop, Chicago 1995 and 2006, ISBN 1-887229-28-0 ).

• English: Jerry Mander and George Dipple: The Great International Paper Airplane Book. Galahad Books, 1998, ISBN 1-57866-028-9.