Case Study for Agency
03-1015036-077

Leap Frog Case History

Situation
LeapFrog came to the agency nine years ago with just one product and an
idea to revolutionize education and learning. Now 137 products later,
LeapFrog is the third largest toy company in the US-- not third largest
educational toy, but third largest toy company and is expanding rapidly
in Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Marketing Challenge

We didn't have one challenge. We had multiple challenges.
How to convince WalMart and other mass merchandisers to take on this
unknown brand with only one product and no track record?

How to convince anyone to buy it? The average toy costs under 10. The
average LeapFrog product costs 39.95.

How to convince moms that they needed educational toys, a category that
didn't exist until LeapFrog invented it.

How to convince kids that educational toys are fun not boring?

Solutions

The first challenge was getting the product on shelf. None of the mass
merchandisers would even return the founder, Mike Woods' phone calls.
How to convince anyone to give the initial product a try? With a
miniscule budget, we produced one (count em...one) outdoor board to
introduce this new product, the Imagination Desk from LeapFrog. Knowing
we had a very narrow target audience, we placed the one and only board
in Bentonville, Arkansas, near corporate headquarters and near an
elementary school, hoping the toy buyer(s) and his/her spouse would see
the board. It worked. They bit. When Mike Wood called again they wanted
to know more about this incredible reading tool. Once WalMart took the
product on, Target, Toys R Us, KMart and KayBee Toys decided to give
LeapFrog a try.

How did we convince moms? We talked directly to her. Toy competitors
spend their money against children hoping to sell through to mom. With
limited dollars, we decided to speak directly to mom who research
showed was the primary toy purchaser. We didn't spend a dime directly
on children. As the product line expanded, we produced a 12 page 4
color insert and inserted it in womens' magazines both to educate the
consumer and to help distribution.

Without spending money directly against children, how were we able to
convince kids that our products weren't boring? Strategically our
advertising showed how children could "Learn Something New Everyday"
with LeapFrog. Executionally, we showed the kids charmed by and engaged
with learning. We should real life looking kids in real life kinds of
situations, discovering the joy of reading and the joy of knowledge.

Results

Last year, LeapFrog's sales increased by 37% while Mattell's sales
declined and Hasbro's sales remained flat. According to the Brand
Tracker (a survey of 990 educational toy buyers), LeapFrog's brand
awareness was up 35% while all competitive brands declined or remained
flat. Per the Tracker, for the first time ever, LeapFrog had higher
awareness and familiarity scores than the venerable Fisher-Price.
LeapPad and LeapPad books are the 1 and 2 selling toys in the US
according to NPD. That one initial product has grown to a product line
of 137 products and SKU's have increased over 70%. For all those
reasons and more, Leap Frog won the Gold category EFFIE and the GRAND
EFFIE in 2004 for the most effective marketing campaign in the US.