Physician, heal thyself

  • BY Gary Buck
  • November 2nd, 2010

Last week, I traveled down the mountain to Denver for a fascinating experience – aptitude testing at the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation (JOCRF). It was enlightening to have someone conduct “customer testing” on me to learn if my “career needs” are in alignment with my aptitude “products”.

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Betting Blind

  • BY Gary Buck
  • August 16th, 2010

It’s Saturday night at the casino and the poker pros are licking their chops in anticipation of fleecing the crowd of “wanna-be high rollers” in for the weekend. The easiest pickings are those “Texas hold’em” rookies who don’t yet understand the odds and think that they can impress the veterans with their bold play. The ideal rube: the cocky fellow who “bets blind” and plops down a big stack of chips before the cards are even dealt.

After a few years of trendiness, high-stakes professional poker has been relegated to late-nights on ESPN 8 (“The Ocho”). But businesses large and small continue to take wildly unnecessary risks on their brands in this same “betting blind” manner. Unfortunately, the results are about the same. The savvy, cunning experts who know both the odds and their competitors’ “tells” come out on top while the impatient, foolish rookies lose their entire stake and go home with their tails between their legs.

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Actually Doing Something

  • BY Gary Buck
  • March 18th, 2010

One of my favorite TV spots is a UPS commercial in which two “big firm” consultants are presenting their project findings to a “big client” CEO. It goes something like this:

Consultants: We think you need to integrate your global supply chain, move assembly overseas, and accelerate inventory velocity.

CEO: Great! Do it!

Consultants: [Confused looks on faces, then smirks and laughing]. Sir, we don’t actually do what we propose… we just propose it.

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Undercover Bosses & Ohno Circles

  • BY Gary Buck
  • February 8th, 2010

undercover_boss-3I watched CBS’s new series “Undercover Boss” after the Super Bowl yesterday and was thoroughly excited to see a reality show that actually tried to bring about a positive outcome rather than focus on the worst of human behavior. In the premiere episode, the president/COO of Waste Management, Larry O’Donnell, sheds his suit and tie, assumes an alias, and applies for various jobs at his own company, only to find that his operations are not quite as healthy as he previously thought.

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Let’s try something new

  • BY Gary Buck
  • November 6th, 2009

delta gIt’s been twenty years since I abandoned computer engineering for the right-brained world of advertising and graphic design and it’s time for a another reinvention. After studying and working in a broad array of subject areas, I’ve finally decided what I want to do for a living. I call it “Brand Experience Strategy & Design”, and this new website is all about the brave, new world I’ve created for myself. So far, the results have been amazing and our ship is sailing along at a brisk clip, making waves and rocking like never before. Are you open to change?

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