San Francisco, September 2nd, 2019

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, frog is a ‘global design and innovation firm that advances the human experience through design’, according to its president Andrew Zimmerman.

The company originated in Germany. It then migrated to Silicon Valley in the States to work with giants such as Steve Jobs. Today frog employs today over 500 people in North America and Europe.

Andrew first became involved with the company in 2013. His work at frog is more than just a job, it’s inspiration and drive. Andrew describes himself as a business-person and novelist. We wanted to learn more!

Frog is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and has had a very interesting trajectory. When it started, its focus was in industrial design. Its iconic achievements can today be seen in museums around the world. They range from physical products like the Sony Trinitron, the Sony Walkman, the Apple IIc and Macintosh.

As technology evolved in the 80’s and 90’s, more of frog’s work consisted of creating digital experiences for consumers and businesses.

frog is known for the breakthrough design of SAP’s enterprise software, DELL’s e-Commerce PC configurator, as well as consumer services like the music streaming site, Napster and the most successful digital music company, SiriusXM. More recently, the company completed the redesign of the customer experience for one of the largest hospitality and entertainment companies.

Andrew summarizes, “Whereas in the past we were responsible for consumer electronics, our scope of work now runs the gamut to include physical objects, spaces, digital experiences as well as design processes and disruptive business models. Despite the different mediums and platforms that we work with, frog has always been a human-centered design agency and continues to lead in this area.”

Where did the name frog come from?

Originally, when frog was only operating in Germany, it was called Esslinger and Associates, named after our founder, Hartmut Esslinger. When Hartmut moved to the Bay Area to work with Steve Jobs, he decided to rename the company.

There are frog legends regarding the origin of the name. One story is that frog stands for the Federal Republic of Germany.

Another story was that a particular species of frog was very prevalent in the environs surrounding frog’s original studio in Bavaria and they were constantly being found in the studio. It could be a combination of the two stories.

Can you describe your agency in three words?

Form follows emotion.

How did you get started in the industry?

As a college student, I wanted to be a fiction writer. I won a Thomas Watson Fellowship to travel with circuses in Europe and write a novel about the experience (never finished).

I became a business-person almost by accident. Most of my career has been focussed on innovation and the next new thing whether as global lead for e-business at PwC or managing director at idealab or global lead for Accenture New Businesses (precursor to Accenture Digital) and now frog, with a fifty-year history of product innovation and industry disruption.

I’ve always been able to tell clients a story about the latest innovation, whether technology, marketing or financially driven, and what role they need to play. Maybe that’s where the novelist and business person come together.

You were at frog from 2013-2015 and then left and re-joined last year. What made you leave and why did you come back?

I made a mistake and afterwards realized that I had left my dream job. And I was fortunate that I was given the opportunity to return. A lot of frogs are “boomerangs.” They leave for greener pastures and rush back to the pond when they realize what they were missing.

What do you envisage for the future of frog? (Will you be offering new services?)

Just as we evolved from industrial design to digital design and experience design, we expect to continue to refresh our services as our clients confront transformation and disruption challenges.

Some of the areas we expect to grow significantly are:
• Venture building, working with large corporations to start up internal ventures similar to the way we work with start-ups today under our very successful frog Ventures program.

• Innovation consulting, including helping clients activate their organizations, build their internal innovation and design capabilities, and increasing their focus on customer experience.

• Also leveraging hybrid delivery models taking advantage of our global network and providing end-to-end product/service design using a blend of onshore and nearshore capabilities.

Name three important things or experiences that have brought you to where you are today

Other than having very supportive and loving parents, I have had a few great mentors over the years that have been a sounding board and genuinely cared about my future. I try to do the same for people that work with me.

Bill Gross at idealab taught me the importance of testing and iterating ideas in the marketplace, and this was long before lean start-up, agile sprints and innovation labs.

Working at Accenture showed me the power of a well-run organization at scale. I prefer working in a smaller, more nimble environment, but I admire the organization and how they develop their people.

How do you know that you are leading, and leading well?

It’s an overused metaphor, but it really is about conducting an orchestra, and when you have a great performance, you are leading well.

What inspires you in your work?

frog is pure inspiration. I talk to frog alumni all the time. Some of them, of course, continue to be our clients. Universally, they say their time at frog was the most emotional and inspirational period in their career.

What’s your biggest dream in life?

I don’t have a biggest dream, I have many dreams—personal, career and even spiritual. I hope to make as many of those dreams come true and, in doing so, help others realize their dreams as well.

What does success look like for you?

Lots of philosophical questions! For me, success has been this elusive little tease that is almost in my grasp, or maybe it is in my grasp, and then it reappears just around the corner or just outside my reach. Success for me is to be in the moment, enjoy the abundance being offered and sharing that abundance with those around you.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I’m going back to telling stories. I have a novel coming out in February titled Journey, about what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world. It is a very late homework assignment for the Watson Foundation. But I’m keeping my day job.

Thanks Andrew!

By Geny Caloisi.

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