Howard Gossage – often dubbed the “Socrates of San Francisco,” revolutionised advertising in the 1950s and 60s with his unconventional and humanistic approach. So it took two equally unconventional and humanistic creatives – Steve Harrsion and Dave Dye, to write – no, craft – a book documenting some of the most captivating and exemplary pieces of Gossage’s short but prolific career, producing a form of advertising so ahead of its time that we’re only now catching up with it.

The problem is, that, like the man in the river surrounded by crocodiles, we’ve forgotten that the original objective was to get to the other side.

We’ve forgotten the point of advertising – and that is to entertain.

Gossage was a born showman and it lived and breathed in his work, which is what makes it sadly unique.

If you’ve never been Gossaged before, I suggest you start here. If you have, then I hope you’ll appreciate this podcast and an opportunity to reminisce on a lost period of advertising that we still have a chance to reclaim and make advertising great again.

Thank you to Steve Harrison and Dave Dye for a memorable podcast. If it sounds a bit jumpy, I apologise and hope that it doesn’t spoil your listening enjoyment. We had to record it in two goes and splice the best bits together because of a technical SNAFU.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices