Marc Gobé, an award-winning store designer and marketing and branding expert, died Friday in New York, of a brain tumor. He was 68.
He and Joel Desgrippes founded the design consultancy, Desgrippes Gobe in 1971, with offices in Chicago and Paris. By the 1990s, they were becoming active in the strategic brand storytelling aspects of retailing and in 2007 Gobe created a consulting firm, Emotional Branding.
At the time, he told Women’s Wear Daily that he believed in the “notion that half of a brand’s image stems from its visual identity.
“I will help top companies understand the various parts of the design process and how to leverage it. There is a vast gap between top management in big companies, and the creative field and consumers.”
He wrote books and was a frequent speaker at industry events, offering his thoughtful take on commercial and cultural trends and how they can be translated into branding and design strategies.
Sadly, that voice became stilled recently. His daughter, Gwenaëlle Gobé, said her father had lost the ability to speak.
There will be memorial services on Thursday morning in New York, at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament. A celebration of his life will take place in La Baule, France, in February.