The Howard Gossage Show: And what it can teach you about advertising, fun, fame and manipulating the media

There are more famous admen than Howard Luck Gossage. Ogilvy and Bernbach immediately spring to mind. But for certain advertising cognoscenti, Gossage has always been a highly influential figure. Which makes the publication of The Howard Gossage Show even more welcome. Steve Harrison and Dave Dye are to be congratulated on the graft that’s gone into producing this masterly anthology of the works of one of the masters of American advertising. It is the without doubt the most complete compendium of the advertising of Gossage ever assembled in one place. As such it is to be hoped that this book will help bring knowledge of him to a broader audience. Page after page demonstrates vividly that to be effective, advertising must entertain those it seeks to influence. In fact, The Howard Gossage Show should be required reading for everybody who works in the ad business. And, if enough ad folks do read this book, it might even trigger a move away from the po-faced offerings to which readers and viewers are subjected today, to amusing and therefore more involving advertising tomorrow. Let’s hope so, because in one way Harrison and Dye’s efforts will not have been in vain. My advice after reading it: if you only ever buy one book on advertising, buy this one.

As much as I'd like to credit the hard work of Steve Harrison and Dave Dye in collecting, collating, and contextualising this book, let's face it. I read this to spend time in the company of a genius. So thanks to both of those men in allowing that to happen.Howard Gossage was a bona fide genius. In this collection of his work, you'll see ideas, strategies and campaigns that pave the way for pretty much everything that works in today's advertising industry.This is the book that proves it. This morning, I saw an advert lionising Henry Warburton, founder of the bread company. I saw conversational copy exhorting the reader to take banking less seriously. And of course reams and reams of socially-conscious marketing about the green agenda.You'll find all of that here. In 1956, and 1959, and 1961, and of course on page 130 onwards where the 1st International Paper Airplane competition brings together virality and social sharing and interactivity and some of Jerry Mander's absolutely brilliant longform copy.It's a book you'll read cover-to-cover. And then that'll sit on your desk to inspire, exhort and impel you to do better work. Work that makes a difference.Because, after all, changing the world is the only fit work for a grown-up.

After watching Steve Harrison deliver a brilliant presentation about Howard Gossage at a copywriting event, I was eager to get my hands on this book when it came out shortly after. And I wasn't disappointed.It's an ode to a man who felt an obligation to defy convention in advertising. As Gossage himself put it: "I think you have to really throw the bull over the fence every now and then or it's not much fun being a copywriter."The book follows a three-act structure:1) Gossage's legendary adman career that produced many memorable pieces for The New York Times over the course of a decade...2) His foray into consulting and "guru-discovering" that led him to write an ad he considered his all-time best (and possibly his most controversial...)3) His own cleverly-engineered celebrity - a precursor to the modern-day "personal brand."It's been meticulously researched.Swipe file nerds will love the copies of his ads (there are many).And Steve charts Gossage's career with warmth and humour — there isn't a dull sentence in the book. I can't recommend it highly enough.(It's a gorgeous book, as well. Put it on your coffee table and you'll get people talking).

In "The Howard Gossage Show," authors Steve Harrison and Dave Dye provide a masterful exploration of one of advertising’s most unorthodox yet profoundly influential figures. Howard Luck Gossage, known for his inventive and whimsical approach to advertising, is celebrated in this detailed homage, making the book a treasure trove for enthusiasts and professionals alike.Gossage’s advertising strategies, crafted during the 1960s, are shown to be startlingly relevant even today. This book serves as a reminder that true creativity in advertising transcends time, resonating with modern audiences as powerfully as it did half a century ago. His campaigns were more than just advertisements; they were conversations that engaged the audience in meaningful and often humorous ways.Harrison’s narrative is concise yet rich, allowing Gossage’s own work to shine, while Dye’s rigorous research brings to light ads that had been lost to time, providing fresh material even for those familiar with Gossage’s legacy. For example, the Paul Masson champagne ad exemplifies Gossage’s knack for turning an ordinary message into a memorable moment, encouraging spontaneity in celebration.The book is not only an account of Gossage’s professional achievements but also a call to today’s advertisers to embrace fun and boldness in their creative endeavours. It’s a compelling read, illustrating how Gossage’s disdain for convention spurred innovations that are echoed in today’s advertising strategies.

Happy days for the ad industry when books this good are being produced.Dave Dye is a brilliant researcher of ad history and has come up with an excellent format and feel for this book. Steve Harrison is the perfect writer to tell the Gossage story, with all its contemporary relevance in an industry that has lost much of its creative flair and social relevance, despite (or because of) its endless talk of social purpose.The book ends up feeling like the work of a single mind – an unbroken flow of large images woven into the commentary, so that it reads as a continuous piece, rather than a series of captions or footnotes. I'd love to see the show continue with other names, but maybe there aren't many who merit it on quite the level of a Gossage.

Back in the 50’s and 60’s, Howard Gossage flew his freak flag for the carriage trade. No one had ever talked to readers like he did (not since, either). He brought a New Journalism boldness to advertising but never stopped selling. Here is point 10 from his ad for Land-Rover, an ad that riffed on Ogilvy’s famous Rolls Royce ad.“The Land-Rover’s sturdiness of construction (the under-frame resembles a reinforced section of railway track) makes it ideal for trackless wastes, car pools of small children, wretched ordeals, et cetera.”They ran almost exclusively in the New Yorker. Week after week he would to put a new ad in front of consumers, for example, Eagle Shirts, but unlike the champion of repetition of Rosser Reeves, they were actually ads you wanted to see.I had read an earlier collection of his ads, “The Book of Gossage,” but this just published look at his work includes new campaigns unearthed by Dye who went through every issue of the New Yorker from 1955-1966 to uncover new gems. They include campaigns for Aalborg Akvavit, Salada Tea, Rover Cars and Rainier Ale.They are almost all long copy, copy you want to read every word of to hopefully impart at least a small part of its excellence into your brain.Gossage seems like an ad person for our current age, or at least what we’d like to imagine it is. His writing reads like Calvin Trillin by way of MAD Magazine. The sensibility is the same, anyway. Unconventional is too weak a word to describe his campaigns; they broke every rule and made his clients famous. Who would ever think of writing “MOTHER OF FIVE WINS 15 YARDS OF PINK ASPHALT” for a petroleum company? The ads are impossible to ignore, demanding attention and usually encouraging a response of some sort. He meant them to be “interactive,” often with contests or coupons offering irresistible rewards, like an Ice Cube Permit begrudgingly granting you the right to add ice to your glass of Aalborg, a behavior at best tolerated by Danes.This book is beautifully written and includes terrific insights by Harrison and Dye. It is lavishly printed. Order it right now ($45 CHEAP) and have it in your hands in a couple of days.

Steve Harrison and Dave Dye, two of advertising’s most respected and admired creatives, have written a book for the ages. It is small parts chronology of Howard Gossage’s life and career, and big parts—the bulk of this book—of his brilliant, years-ahead-of-his-time voice in a collection of previously lost, forgotten and never-before-assembled print advertisements for brands we know and some we never heard of before (that’s my confession…you may know every brand in the book!)That last observation is this book’s biggest gift: we ad folks know little of our own industry’s history, and we are worse off for it. Messrs. Harrison and Dye have corrected this oversight with the latter’s librarian-like propensities to collect back issues of, well, just about every magazine ever to hit a newstand. In this case, old issues of New Yorker magazine, where Gossage preferred to run print ads for his clients.Remember print ads? Remember long copy? Remember coupons? I’m sure you don’t remember tongue-in-cheek conversational copy because it was new in the 1960s and obsolete today. Unless you grew up in the world of direct marketing/direct response, it would be as foreign to you as ancient Greek. Again, we are worse off for it.I recommend The Howard Gossage Show because it is a needed wake-up call to what great advertising is missing today: Fun. Humor. Entertainment. Serious selling disguised as a can’t-stop-reading narrative much the way Meryl Streep acts: effortlessly, surreptitiously, without you really knowing it. You just go along for the ride and love every moment. You suspend incredulity. Gossage had his arm around your shoulder and whispered in your ear, “You’re with me, right?” And you were.I loved this book because it reminded me of my roots as a copywriter even though I hardly knew a thing about this man, sorry to say. Harrison and Dye to the rescue. Thank you gents.

Few of the established ad greats held a Bic Lighter to Howard Luck Gossage.One read through this remarkable book and you'll soon realize why. Ever wondered who the greats of their day most envied? Wonder no more.Buy two copies and prepare to lose one immediately. I recommend keeping one copy safely stashed at home, far, far away from undernourished dogs or the casual observer.Steve Harrison and Dave Dye have researched, written, and designed this book masterfully and we owe them both a debt of gratitude to say nothing of an immediate purchase.Gossage was ahead of his time and perfect for these.Bold. Inventive. Fearless.We could sure use a few more like him today.A true mad genius who forged his own space in advertising's orbit.Pay up and maybe you will, too.

Steve Harrison and Dave Dye have written the definitive book on the (sadly) somewhat forgotten advertising legend Howard Gossage. While many know the names David Ogilvy, Bill Bernbach, or George Lois, Howard left this world way too early – but left a lasting impression on the work that followed. Witty, engaging advertising that respected the reader's intelligence and invited them to "join the conversation" long before interactive ads were a thing. If all you know is that Howard is the guy who said "People read what interests them, and sometimes that's an ad", then please buy this book.