Vivid Imaginations is a British toy manufacturer, distributor and wholesale company, based in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, Surrey. Founded in 1992, one of the company's first toy lines it manufactured was Captain Scarlet, which has since been followed by Thunderbirds, Sindy and

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

. In 1994, Kitty in My Pocket was released. After a few years of manufacturing, Vivid Imaginations began securing toy distribution and wholesale deals with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, MGA Entertainment, Jakks Pacific and

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing and retail company specializing in list of art media, art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered ...

for the UK market. Their main areas of expertise are within

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

, plush,

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

collectable A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any Physical object, object regarded as being of value or interest to a collecting, collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types ...

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

s and

arts and crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

. Vivid also produce games and

puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...

s along with tech and outdoor toys. The company increased its presence as a manufacturer in the 2010s by releasing dolls for music acts including

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

, JLS,

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band formed in 2009, and originally consisted of members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker, and Nathan Sykes. The group signed a worldwide contract to Universal Music, Island Reco ...

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik (until his departure in 2015), Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. The group sold o ...

and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

. This would be followed by house-developed lines such as Animagic, and the popular award winning Moshi Monsters. Vivid Imaginations would also go on to sign agreements with large TV networks, such as

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

in 2017, working on the series Nella the Princess Knight. In 2018, the Goliath Group, a family-owned

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

toys and games manufacturer, acquired Vivid Imaginations, where it continues to operate as a subsidiary in manufacturing and distribution.

History

Vivid Imaginations was founded in 1992 by former Matchbox Toys UK managing director Nick Austin and Finance Director Alan Bennie, with a loan of £380,000 from friends. The annual company turnover was £9.8 m in its first year and increased to over £20 m in 1996. The increase was partly due to acquiring the rights to distribute

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and ''

'' products in 1996 and distributing the Toy of the Year, the Pogmaker. Jordan Group, a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

company from New York City, bought an 80% stake in Vivid in 1998 for £25 m. In 1999, Vivid started distributing Sindy and obtained the rights to

Playmates Toys Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong toy company. The company was founded in Hong Kong in 1966 by Sam Chan Tai-ho as Playmates Industrial, manufacturing dolls for other companies. In 1975, Playmates began marketing its own line of preschool to ...

and Toy Biz products. Vivid became the third-largest advertiser in the United Kingdom and the number three toy company in 2000. In 2003, Vivid Imaginations was bought by Phoenix Equity Partners, its management and venture capital company, for £62 million. Vivid Imaginations acquired licensing rights to Bratz in 2004. Vivid had a strong market share in the boys' toy sector and saw Bratz as the opportunity to boost its girls' range, which included

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...

, Disney Princess and Sindy, to rival

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

owner

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

. Bratz was the most popular doll in the UK in 2005, and was responsible for 30% of Vivid's turnover. Sales of Bratz and ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

''-themed products made Vivid the number one toy company in the UK in 2005, the first British company to achieve this in 30 years. Bratz owner MGA Entertainment set up its own UK office in 2008 and ended the distribution deal with Vivid. The Paris-based Vivid Europe subsidiary was formed in 2008 with the acquisition of Nomad Company, the distributor of

across Europe (except Italy), the Middle East and Africa. In 2011, Vivid produced a line of toys for the television show '' Little Charley Bear'' and partnered with social network developer Mind Candy to produce Moshi Monsters toys. In 2015, Vivid acquired the rights to produce a range of toys on the science-fiction television programme, Thunderbirds Are Go. Vivid produced and distributed Thunderbird aircraft, action figures, puzzles and more. In March 2017, Privet Capital, a private equity investor, announced the acquisition of Vivid Imaginations for an undisclosed fee. In November 2018, Goliath, took over from Privet Capital as owner of Vivid Imaginations.

References

{{reflist Companies based in Guildford Toy companies established in 1992 1992 establishments in England