LeapFrog is a household name for those of us who have children and even for those of us who don’t, making educational toys, interactive books and electronic games that inspire a love for learning.

LeapFrog was the brainchild of Mike Wood, an employee of a law firm working with tech companies. Noticing his 3 year-old son, Matthew struggling to connect names of letters to the sounds they made, Mike embarked on developing a children’s toy to assist learning, which would eventually become the Leap- Frog Phonics Desk.

To assist Mike on his journey he enlisted the help of a previous client who was investing in technology being developed at Texas Instruments. Mike spent the next four years performing focus groups on mothers and developed a prototype of his idea, conducting research on the manufacturing costs to ensure that it would have a viable place in the market.

In 1994, Mike took his prototype to a professor at the Stanford University School of Education for his expert opinion. Armed with his feedback, he went on to refine his toy, and a year later, developed the first toy that LeapFrog would market.

The Phonics Desk sold well, however the company was plagued with delivering issues. Nevertheless, demand for the product was strong, and the company started to develop its second phonics toy.

By early 1997, LeapFrog had expanded quickly and was already offering distribution to over 10 countries around the world, and in 1999 the LeapPad was launched, and quickly became their flagship product. Three years later LeapFrog Enterprises went public, and was listed on the New York Stock exchange.

In 2007, the company fell on rough times because they had relied heavily on past success without evolving or offering new products or experiences.

It was at that time that LeapFrog decided to create a completely different portfolio, so rather than concentrating on just a couple of toys that help children, LeapFrog decided to devise three clear categories.

The first, to create more traditional toys that were durable and could last, aimed at their youngest audience. The next was a product category helping children 2 years and above with their reading, and then the last category was what they call the ‘mobile learning’ category, which would include all LeapFrog hand-held gaming and tablet devices which are used for multiple learning programs and applications. With a much larger and comprehensive product portfolio, LeapFrog was able to increase their recognition and market share significantly.

Helping to keep LeapFrog at the forefront of the toy market is the fact that many of their core products are linked to a backup system, which means as a parent, you can connect the toy to your computer and then have the ability to personalise that toy.

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