Sharing the excitement!

We've had a very upbeat week with the launch of our Frog Blog Dog Log Song on itunes, with great coverage in the local press, and fantastic feedback and enthusiasm from everyone who has heard the song and seen the vid on youtube.

We are poised to hear it being broadcast on Radio Lancashire early next week, and have asked everyone we know to request it on all the local radio stations.
The challenge now is to convert that enthusiasm into sales, and to spread the song virally, to create a snowball effect that will carry us into mainstream audiences.
Any suggestions and offers of help gratefully received!

From a personal standpoint, I am realising how much more enjoyable it is to share a project like this, than it is to always work alone. I really appreciate having someone else getting over-excited with me. That's not to say that my family and friends don't support me, because they are all incredibly supportive, but it's the very special nature of sharing a creative idea, working to give it life, then witness it give pleasure to other people that is feeding my own enthusiasm.

Chris Carter, my co-conspiritor and the singers are all very local with strong local connections so were inundated with calls from well wishers after the local press coverage - a first full page pic spread for Frog and I on the front of the leisure section, with a follow-up story and another pic inside of all the singers - whereas my social network is thrown much wider so I didn't get that same initial response. I was grateful to be able to share their excitement, whilst it was just another day in the office here.

This has decided me to make sure that I share the experience of hearing our song played on the radio with Chris next week at the studios of the BFWSB so we can get a crowd atmosphere to celebrate. The BFWSB - the Blackpool Fylde and Wyre Society for the Blind, is a very fitting place to gather, as that is where Frog and I recorded our audio CD, "It's Frogtastic!" and first met Chris, who we then commissioned to write our original music.

Now I have to return to the less public work to start chasing retail buyers again - it's nearly Christmas you know!

Dreadful Cat Doggerel

We have been waiting very impatiently since Monday 3rd for our Frog Blog Dog Log Song to go live on itunes - it's now two whole days overdue. so while we go berate the unforunates who live on the other end of the itunes helpdesk, try a bit of this, and if you don't go buy our song as soon as it IS ready, we'll just keep on writing more. You've been warned!

Dreadful Cat Doggerel.

Squeakers Maguire swaggered into the room,
The fur on his tail was quite patchy.
Three whiskers were bent, his claws ragged torn,
And he whistled a tune that was really quite annoying.

Squeakers Maguire sauntered up to the bar,
“A milkshake!” he bawled, “Make it snappy!”
The room turned to stare, Squeakers just didn’t care,
That the barman was not looking at all pleased.

Squeakers Maguire stared an amber eyed glare,
His tail shook with menacing twitches,
“A Milkshake, please sir,” he said, smoothing his fur,
“Or your face will need several sticking plasters!”

Squeakers Maguire took a step back or three,
As the barman snarled, spitting and growling,
“No milk served in here, we’re all dogs who drink beer,
So leave now and none of your lip!”

Squeakers Maguire turned slowly to go,
Pretending he cared not a hoot,
When he got to the door, did a wee on the floor,
Then fled as the dogs chased him right down the street.

Not a dogumentary

Here it is - it's not a dogumentary, it's a pop song and vid!
We'd love to know what you think - it's already proving popular with the under fives who demand to see it over and over.
Make yourself a coffee, turn up the volume, and enjoy some unashamed fun!

The song goes live on itunes et al on Monday 3rd November, so we've been waiting until this week to send out the promo packs to radio stations and press.

We're hoping to upload the video to a site that will enable us to sell the vid for a few pennies for mobile phone use, as we're keen to promote and utilise the digital technology to share the message that books are fun.

Even a short time ago we would not have been able to do this, but this is so exciting - book characters are no longer confined to the flat page, but live and play in any of the many places where kids have access. Maybe not every child has access to the internet at home, but they nearly all have mobile phones, heaven help us! In presenting Frog the Dog as a friend and advocate of safe, silly, and exciting fun, we hope to reach a wider audience than the printed word could achieve.

Frogtastic!

Chris Carter of Bluebird Recording Studios and I both need this to go large for us. We work hard at our respective businesses, but we both need the break into mainstream recognition. We believe this song is good enough to do this for us both.

Please, there is plenty you can do to help, and we need your help to get noticed.

It would be be amazing if you could do any or all of these:

Buy the song from itunes, Napster, Rhapsody of Amazon MP3

Watch it, rate it and review it on youtube - www.youtube.com/frogthedog1

Be our friend and spread the word on myspace - www.myspace.com/frogthedogandthebeachhousegang

Watch the vid and leave us an encouraging message - It gets lonely here sometimes!

Send these links to your friends, and tell every child you meet about Frog the Dog or maybe treat them to a book or toy for Christmas - suitable for kids upto 8yrs old for the books and CD's, and any age for the Frog Ted toy - he's very cool :)

Thank you!

I have to go send out press packs, and then cross my fingers that this takes off so that both Chris and I get noticed enough to earn a salary soon!

Back at the blogs

Hey, did you miss us? No??
We simply had to take some time out to work on the new drawings for the Frog Blog Dog Log video, and I find that the only way not to get distracted it to turn the computer right off!
So I had a blissfull week creating some new images, and realised how little time I get to create new work for it's own sake. A piece of art always has to have a purpose, to fit a specific brief, usually to illustrate a story.
I couldnt wait to get started on this tuba playing pic!
The video has been a collaboration with our good chum Chris Carter of Bluebird Recording Studios who wrote the original music for us, and who was keen to develop that into a pop song. I really wanted a video short that would amuse everyone and be a good promo tool, so we set about planning.

Because we have such a strong international following, I thought it would be good fun to have Frog with the most famous London Landmarks, and to have clips of our own dear beach here in Fleetwood; if we can do our bit to promote the tourism in Fleetwood, I would be very happy.

I also wanted a mix of Frog in his various guises, cartoon, plush toy and real dog. So the plan emerged that we would use brief shots of a mix of all these to create an animated effect with stills, but being the creative silly people we are, we couldnt resist a little stop animation with a Frog Ted. No cakes were harmed or eaten during the making of this video!

Having assembled over 80 photos, and a range of cartoons, I then spent a week storyboarding the pics into position, humming the song as I worked to give a rough plan. Then it was into the studio to work on the stop animation, where Chris excelled himself, and there was much giggling as we put it together and saw how it looked. We (Chris) spent quite some time going over and over it to get the synchronisation right, so when we finally finished very late that night, it was very hard indeed to go home and NOT share the results until the next morning!

We really want the song and the vid to be something for the kids to enjoy that they can access themselves through their mobile phones/mp3 players. We know that kids who are too old for the books still enjoy the whole concept and character of Frog and his friends, so like the blog, this song and vid are a new way of being friends with Frog.

So after that brief but exciting burst of creativity it's back to the marketing and selling in the run upto Christmas. Back to arranging signing events and book orders; but it's great fun telling everyone that we have a pop song out and how much fun it is. Stand by your ipod - launch day is 3rd Nov - we're nearly there!
PS: We'd be so appreciative of your support - if you can spare the time to comment, rate or review our vid on youtube, we'd be really gratefull!
Find us at www.youtube.com/frogthedog1

Making the fun happen

One of the very nicest things about doing what I do is the scope for having fun and being silly, which is always a welcome break from being sensible and corporate.

I push myself very hard in the pursuit of professionalism and achievement, and refuse to relent when it comes to the fun side of the business. Sometimes making the fun is hard work!

Frog worked hard at the Brand Licensing show at Olympia, catching some international interest, and on his "day off" went out to shoot some photos for our upcoming promo video to accompany The Frog Blog Dog Log Song, ready for imminent release on Itunes.

Yes, a Frog pop song - how much fun is that??

We wanted some photos of Frog at iconic London sights to use in the video - how hard can it be?

Not as easy as one might first think!

The famous landmarks might seem to be right next to the tube stops - but maps lie! So a great deal of brisk walking was called for.

The Tube was closed in places for maintainance work - more brisk walking, catching buses, and more brisk walking.

Some of us involved in this frantic photo bid are not as fit as some others, and you really wouldn't believe how many stairs there are to access the underground system - its a long way down - and up again! Oh my poor knees....

The photo I most wanted was a shot of Frog with a Guardsman at Buckingham Palace, so when we got there I was very disappointed to discover that the guardsmen now stand well inside the palace grounds, whereas they used to be outside the gates and prone to all kinds of attention from the public. We were flummoxed!




















The technicalities were proving hard - the guardsmen were quite some distance away, the railings got in the way and Frog wouldn't stay focussed. When it started to rain, we decided to move on.

But perhaps the power of positive thinking was with us - as we trudged wearily down Birdcage Walk, passing the Guards Chapel, our tired spirits lifted when we spotted two guardsmen outside the chapel, waiting for a wedding to start.

We decided that the Prince of Wales' motto "Carpe Diem -Seize the Day" was called for, so I despatched Frog Ted with my charming and attractive accomplice to ask the favour.
You can see what a great photo we got at the top of this post.
I could go home happy!

Among the 80 odd photos we took in five hours, and the 40 odd that we intend to use, this one is my favourite, so we want to say a very big thank you to the Guardsmen involved for their willingness to take part. I'm sure they must have had other more important things on their mind! We know how much the iconic sights of London are enjoyed around the world, and really wanted them to be a strong part of our pop video.

So here's to the splendid and long suffering guardsmen, to Frog, and to my cheerful accomplice, who all contributed magnificently to making the fun happen - you are all quite FROGTASTIC!

Frog the Dog World theme park plans put on hold

Sadly, our dreams of buying Fleetwood Pier to build a Frog the Dog World theme park have suffered a set back - the poor old pier was burned down yesterday, the last of the old English seaside piers to be built, back in 1910.

I would love to have known the pier in its heyday; but in recent years it has fallen into decay, and was recently bought by a local business man who hoped (somehwat controversially) to build residential flats on it.

In the hearts of most Fleetwood people though was the dream of restoring it to its former glory. Can you imagine how much it would cost in public liability insurance alone to have a fun fair on the pier these days? But it's what piers were made for - we want to see merry-go-rounds and helter skelters, we want to sniff the candy floss, peer over the railings into the briny, saunter long the planks to take in the stiff sea breezes.

We want somewhere to relish the views across Morecambe Bay, somewhere to sit with an ice cream, somewhere to sit inside when its raining; this IS England, after all!

Now we will have to stand by watching the pier disintegrate whilst it is decided what will happen to it next. Poor old pier.

Book Signing Events

We are still in the midst of our book signing events for the ASDA UK supermarkets - two more this week, in our home town of Fleetwood on Thursday and a few miles south in Blackpool on Friday, a much larger store.

The sheer footfall through the supermarket doors is staggering. It is a ceasless flow of humanity and trolleys, eager to buy.
The staff are keen to promote the product as part of their commitment to local produce, and are very enthusiastic to have something a little unusual, and for children. I'm learning from ASDA how to be very local yet global - it's fascinating how little details can give a product an edge, so I hope to take this newly acquired expertise into the bookshops too.

It's a fantastic opportunity to get our products in front of the general public in a big way - and the interview on late night BBC Lancashire was a lot of fun too. Ive now been interviewed by all but two of the programmes on BBC Lancashire - think that's a target presenting itself! I only have to crack the breakfast show and the mid morning show and I shall have a full set.
Frogtastic!