Howard Gossage

Who was Howard Gossage?

Howard Luck Gossage, known as "The Socrates of San Francisco," was an advertising innovator and iconoclast during the "Mad Men" era. A non-conformist who railed against the norms of so-called scientific advertising in his day, Gossage introduced several innovative techniques to the advertising practice that would only become appreciated decades after his death.

Gossage is credited with introducing the media theorist Marshall McLuhan to media and corporate leaders thereby providing McLuhan his entry into mainstream renown. More widely, Gossage was involved in some of the first environmental campaigning in the USA with the Sierra Club, and in the establishment of Friends of the Earth through his friendship with David Brower.

Co-founder at age 36 of the advertising agency Wiener & Gossage, Howard Gossage is listed by Advertising Age at number 23 of its 100 advertising people of the 20th century. AdAge.com calls Gossage a "copywriter who influenced admakers worldwide."

Out of an unassuming re-purposed firehouse nestling in San Francisco's old Barbary Shore neighborhood, Gossage created the headquarters of his advertising agency. The building would become a salon where interesting people of the day would gather. From John Steinbeck to Buckminster Fuller, Tom Wolfe to Stan Freeberg - all would become close friends, captivated by Gossage's latest idea for a way to create change in the world.