Dan RatneR

What can the humble frog teach you about brands and branding?

Everything - it seems.

A book about branding

‘Be the frog’ simplifies the conversation about branding into a few simple ideas that everyone can understand.

Whether you are a business owner, a business leader or an individual interested in your personal brand,

in about five minutes, ‘Be the frog’ will educate you on the basic principles of great branding.

www.uberbrand.com.auBe the

Frog

Published in Australia by:uberbrand pty ltd190 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010Phone: 02 9331 7001Email: info@uberbrand.com.auwww.uberbrand.com.au

Copyright, Dan Ratner, 2013

First published June 2013.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher and copyright owner.

The editors and publisher have made every effort to trace and acknowledge copyright material. The publisher would be pleased to hear from any copyright holders who have not been acknowledged.

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter, or 10% of the book, whichever is greater to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

The author and the publisher specifically disclaim any liability resulting from the use or application of the information in this book and the information is not intended to serve as legal or financial advice

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the National Library of Australia.

ISBN: 978-0-9875753-0-2

Designed and typeset by Leah Crisell Illustrated by Luke Atkinson Print managed by uberbrand pty ltd

Dan Ratner is the Managing Director of uberbrand, a brand led communications agency in

Sydney, Australia.

He believes that managing your brand is something everyone should do. He wrote this book to simplify the discussion around brands and branding into a few ideas

that every person can understand.

The ‘children’s book for adults’ approach came about through conversations he’d been having with his kids

who wanted to know what he did all day.

To find out more about Dan or uberbrand, visit www.uberbrand.com.au

1

“If you can’t explain it simply,

you don’t understand it well enough.”

Albert Einstein

Part one

What is a brand?

2

3

When you see this word, what image comes to mind?

Frog.

4

I bet this wasn’t it.

5

6

For most people, a Green Tree Frog is the first image that comes to mind.

The Green Tree Frog owns the frog ‘brand’.

Yet there are around 4700 frog species in the world, and not all of them are green.

7

A mental image in the minds of people.

So what is a brand?

8

9

That’s it.

Not a logo, not a product – simply an idea.

Their perception.

10

Part two

Frog Philosophy

11

If frogs are cute, toads are not, right?

But a toad IS a frog. A frog with a really bad image.

So why do Green Tree Frogs inspire positive emotions for

us while toads don’t?

12

Our perception of a brand is made up of impressions that are formed by what we see, read, hear and experience across all our senses.

Impressions matter.

13

This mental image, our perception, can be built from lots of impressions – but also from very few.

14

15

And impressions form associations,

positive or negative, about a brand.

16

Green Tree Frogs conjure positive associations:

clean air, nature, bushwalks, freedom.

In general they make us feel safe and happy.

17

18

Cane Toads, on the other hand, generate a very different set of associations:

an eco-system out of balance; the destruction of our environment.

19

20

Green Tree Frogs are cartoonishly cute, and seem relaxed as they go about the business of being a frog.

This is what we know. It’s what we expect.

It’s because strong brands leave

consistent, lasting impressions.

21

22

Cane Toads are also a strong brand – but for all the wrong reasons.

Good branding happens when people have similar perceptions of you.

Great branding happens when perceptions align to what you want them to be.

23

We understand Green Tree Frogs to be a hugely important part of a balanced ecosystem, just as we know Cane Toads are predators and environmental vandals.

24

25

How did this happen?

Because everything frogs and toads do reinforces their position in our minds, positively or negatively.

26

Everything forms impressions, because

everything communicates.

27

Everything you’re saying and doing, even everything you’re not saying and not doing, communicates something about you: good… and not so good.

28

If you go bushwalking near a creek, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear or even see a frog.

But you don’t expect one to jump out of your salad.

It’s the same with brands; they make a promise to your audience, that you are expected to keep.

29

30

The Cane Toad didn’t always have a poor brand image. In 1935 in Australia, it was hailed as an economic saviour. It was introduced to protect Queensland’s sugar cane crops from cane beetles.

It didn’t.

Consequently it broke its promise,

with disastrous results.

31

Stay truthful.

If you look like a frog and sound like a frog…

You are a frog.

32

33

Own the frog brand. Embrace it.

Be clear about who you are and

what you do.

34

Keep focused.

Be the frog.

Understand yourself

Understand your audience

Keep your promises

Don’t give them what they aren’t expecting

Stay relevant and evolve.

35

The jump on branding.Part three

36

37

A brand is made up of

people’s perceptions.

Controlling perception is about managing impressions so that they truly deliver on who and what you stand for.

38

Being a great brand

is about applying who and what you stand for across every interaction and everything you do.

Channel your inner frog.

39

40

So if you’re a Green Tree Frog, be the proudest, handsomest, greenest Green Tree Frog in the history of the universe.

Don’t let anyone mistake you for a

Cane toad.

41

Part four

A few things to think about.

42

43

The tasks on the following pages are designed to help you think about

your brand and how you are communicating it.

44

Think about what you SAY and what you DO every day.What does it convey about you? Is this what you want to be communicating?

Write down three examples of what you are doing today that shows you ARE delivering what you want to be communicating.

The ‘Everything Communicates’ Test

45

Write down three examples of what you are doing today that shows you are NOT delivering what you want to be communicating.

Write down what you think you can do to ensure you’re communicating the right message.

46

Your brand is a perception. So, the best way to find out about how your brand is performing is by asking people from your target audience (colleagues, customers, people in the business etc).

Try talking to a few different people to get a variety of opinions. Looking at the results, are you hearing what you expect to hear?

Here are five questions you can ask to get you going.1. If you were to describe my brand to a friend or colleague,

what would you say?

2. Who is similar or competing with my brand?

A simple ‘Brand Performance’ Test

47

3. What do they do better?

4. What are we/I doing better than them?

5. What are three positive and three negative words that come to mind about my brand?

48

For Harrison and Zachy who want to know what

Daddy does all day.

Published in Australia by:uberbrand pty ltd190 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010Phone: 02 9331 7001Email: info@uberbrand.com.auwww.uberbrand.com.au

Copyright, Dan Ratner, 2013

First published June 2013.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher and copyright owner.

The editors and publisher have made every effort to trace and acknowledge copyright material. The publisher would be pleased to hear from any copyright holders who have not been acknowledged.

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter, or 10% of the book, whichever is greater to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

The author and the publisher specifically disclaim any liability resulting from the use or application of the information in this book and the information is not intended to serve as legal or financial advice

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the National Library of Australia.

ISBN: 978-0-9875753-0-2

Designed and typeset by Leah Crisell Illustrated by Luke Atkinson Print managed by uberbrand pty ltd

Dan Ratner is the Managing Director of uberbrand, a brand led communications agency in

Sydney, Australia.

He believes that managing your brand is something everyone should do. He wrote this book to simplify the discussion around brands and branding into a few ideas

that every person can understand.

The ‘children’s book for adults’ approach came about through conversations he’d been having with his kids

who wanted to know what he did all day.

To find out more about Dan or uberbrand, visit www.uberbrand.com.au

Dan RatneR

What can the humble frog teach you about brands and branding?

Everything - it seems.

A book about branding

‘Be the frog’ simplifies the conversation about branding into a few simple ideas that everyone can understand.

Whether you are a business owner, a business leader or an individual interested in your personal brand,

in about five minutes, ‘Be the frog’ will educate you on the basic principles of great branding.

www.uberbrand.com.auBe the

Frog