What can the humble frog teach

you about brands and branding?

Everything - it seems.

‘Be the frog’ simplifies the conversation about branding

into a few simple ideas that everyone can understand.

Be the
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.

Frog
www.uberbrand.com.au

A book about branding

Dan Ratner
Published in Australia by:
uberbrand pty ltd
190 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010
Phone: 02 9331 7001
Email: info@uberbrand.com.au
www.uberbrand.com.au

Copyright, Dan Ratner, 2013

Dan Ratner is the Managing Director of uberbrand,
First published June 2013.
a brand led communications agency in
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or Sydney, Australia.
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 He believes that managing your brand is something
publisher and copyright owner.
everyone should do. He wrote this book to simplify the
The editors and publisher have made every effort to trace
and acknowledge copyright material. The publisher would be
discussion around brands and branding into a few ideas
pleased to hear from any copyright holders who have not been that every person can understand.
acknowledged.

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum The ‘children’s book for adults’ approach came about
of one chapter, or 10% of the book, whichever is greater to be
photocopied by any educational institution for its educational through conversations he’d been having with his kids
purposes provided the educational institution (or body that who wanted to know what he did all day.
administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright
Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

The author and the publisher specifically disclaim any liability

To find out more about Dan or uberbrand,
resulting from the use or application of the information in this visit www.uberbrand.com.au
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
 “If you can’t
explain it simply,
you don’t understand
it well enough.”
Albert Einstein

1
Part one
What is a brand?

2
When you see this word,
what image comes to mind?

Frog.
3
4
I bet this wasn’t it.

5
For most people, a Green Tree Frog
is the first image that comes to mind.

6
Yet there are around 4700 frog species in
the world, and not all of them are green.

The Green Tree Frog

owns the frog ‘brand’.

7
So what is a brand?
A mental image
in the minds of people.

8
 That’s it.
Not a logo, not a product –
simply an idea.

Their perception.

9
Part two
Frog Philosophy

10
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?

11
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.

12
Impressions matter.

13
This mental image, our perception,
can be built from lots of impressions
– but also from very few.

14
 And impressions
form associations,
positive or negative,
about a brand.

15
Green Tree Frogs conjure
positive associations:

clean air, nature,

bushwalks, freedom.
In general they make us feel
safe and happy.

16
17
Cane Toads, on the other
hand, generate a very different
set of associations:

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

18
19
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.

20
It’s because strong brands leave

consistent, lasting
impressions.

21
Cane Toads are also a strong brand –
but for all the wrong reasons.

22
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
How did this happen?

Because everything frogs

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

25
Everything forms impressions, because

everything
communicates.

26
Everything you’re saying and doing,
even everything you’re not saying and
not doing, communicates something
about you: good… and not so good.

27
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.

28
It’s the same with brands;
they make a promise to
your audience, that you are
expected to keep.

29
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.

30
 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
 Own the frog brand.
Embrace it.

Be clear about
who you are and
what you do.

33
Keep focused.

Be the frog.

34
 Understand yourself

Understand your audience

Keep your promises

 Don’t give them what they

aren’t expecting

Stay relevant and evolve.

35
Part three
The jump on branding.

36
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.

37
Being a great brand
is about applying who and what you
stand for across every interaction and
everything you do.

38
Channel your
inner frog.

39
So if you’re a Green Tree Frog,
be the proudest, handsomest,
greenest Green Tree Frog in the
history of the universe.

40
Don’t let anyone
mistake you for a
Cane Toad.

41
Part four
A few things to think about.

42
The tasks on the following pages
are designed to help you think about
your brand and how you
are communicating it.

43
The ‘Everything Communicates’ Test
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.

44
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.

45
A simple ‘Brand Performance’ Test
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?

46
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?

47
For Harrison and Zachy
who want to know what
Daddy does all day.

48
Published in Australia by:
uberbrand pty ltd
190 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2010
Phone: 02 9331 7001
Email: info@uberbrand.com.au
www.uberbrand.com.au

Copyright, Dan Ratner, 2013

Dan Ratner is the Managing Director of uberbrand,
First published June 2013.
a brand led communications agency in
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or Sydney, Australia.
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 He believes that managing your brand is something
publisher and copyright owner.
everyone should do. He wrote this book to simplify the
The editors and publisher have made every effort to trace
and acknowledge copyright material. The publisher would be
discussion around brands and branding into a few ideas
pleased to hear from any copyright holders who have not been that every person can understand.
acknowledged.

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum The ‘children’s book for adults’ approach came about
of one chapter, or 10% of the book, whichever is greater to be
photocopied by any educational institution for its educational through conversations he’d been having with his kids
purposes provided the educational institution (or body that who wanted to know what he did all day.
administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright
Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

The author and the publisher specifically disclaim any liability

To find out more about Dan or uberbrand,
resulting from the use or application of the information in this visit www.uberbrand.com.au
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
 What can the humble frog teach
you about brands and branding?
Everything - it seems.

‘Be the frog’ simplifies the conversation about branding

into a few simple ideas that everyone can understand.

Be the
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.

Frog
www.uberbrand.com.au

A book about branding

Dan Ratner