The Book of Gossage

We learn what we do, then what we can’t, then if we’re lucky, we learn what we can do that others can’t. And then we try not to die before we can accomplish something special.

And that, in a sense, is the career of Howard Gossage which his friends and admirers sort of capture in The Book of Gossage, a big box into which they have poured all manner of tribute, some exquisite, some less so.

But let us back up.

We start out trying to figure out where our talent lies and where to ply it. For Gossage, he was 35 before he hit his stride as a copywriter, and then, either at an agency of his own or elsewhere, he banged out creative that changed anyone who saw it. Long form that was long even in a long-form world. But long form copy that took you on a journey you couldn’t go on with anyone else and that once you knew he’d written it, you gladly signed up for. An obscure Texas gasoline company? I’m in. Irish Whiskey? By all means. A shirt company? Let’s go.

And all of those ads – or at least enough of them to make you wish there were more – are here. And they are glorious and worth the price of admission.

And then there are the words themselves. That leap out at you – especially if you’ve spent any part of your life in advertising – so you find yourself shouting “yes, god-dammit! Why didn’t someone tell me this thirty years ago?”. Lines like:

“Advertising is not a right, it’s a privilege. Our first responsibility is not to the product but to the public.”

“Advertising is by nature a very limited art form. But like any other form, it requires superlative talent if the results are to be superlative. The upshot is, that a large talent will have to settle for a small, if precise outlet. It is like making Steinways which will only be used for playing Chopsticks.”

“I don’t know how to speak to everybody, only to somebody.”

“If you have something pertinent to say you neither have to say it to very many people – only to those who you think will be interested – nor do you have to say it very often. How many times do you have to be told that your house is on fire?”

“Nobody reads advertising. People read what interests them; and sometimes it’s an ad.”

Ultimately, however, these aren’t insights about advertising. They’re insights about life. Understanding that is what made Gossage better.

And they can make you better too.

(excerpt via https://the-agency-review.com/book-of-gossage )

Author: Howard Luck Gossage
First Flight Books Publisher