Vivid Imaginations

Vivid Imaginations
Private company limited by shares
Industry Toy wholesaling, distribution and manufacture
Founded United Kingdom (1992)
Headquarters Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom
Key people
Number of employees
 110 (2017)
Subsidiaries Drumond Park
Website www.vividtoysandgames.co.uk

Vivid Imaginations (also known as Vivid Toy Group) is an independent, privately owned toy, games, and arts & crafts company. Based in Guildford, Surrey; Vivid manufactures, designs and distributes toys, and holds distribution rights on a number of television shows and films. Vivid are the leading Independent Toys and Games Group in Europe, and also have offices in Paris, Frankfurt and Hong Kong.

Their main areas of expertise are in preschool, plush, dolls, collectables, action figures and arts and crafts. Vivid also produce games and puzzles along with tech and outdoor toys. They also work with many established distribution and licensing lines.

Captain Scarlet was the first of many distribution deals[1] and over the years Vivid has produced toys for Thunderbirds, The Simpsons, Cars, Shrek, Toy Story 3, WWE, Disney, and Bratz.

Vivid has produced dolls based on Take That, JLS, The Wanted, One Direction and Justin Bieber.

They also produce many in house-developed lines such as Animagic,[2] and the popular award winning Moshi Monsters.[3]

All of Vivid's in house products are designed in the UK, by British Designers, and are made in factories in China. Vivid also sells and distributes[4] arts and crafts products for Crayola. Vivid, distributes Crayola items to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Vivid owns and manages the sales, marketing and distribution of products by Drumond Park[5] and are also partnered with Drummond Park, the UK’s largest games manufacturer.

As of 2017, Vivid secured the exclusive license,[6] from Nickelodeon, of the children's television series Nella the Princess Knight. The deal will see them produce dolls, figures, playsets, plush and role-play toys, in all countries outside the United States.[7]

History

Vivid Imaginations was founded in 1992 by former Matchbox Toys UK Managing Director Nick Austin and Finance Director Alan Bennie,[8] with a loan of £380,000 from friends.[9] The annual company turnover was £9.8 m in its first year and increased to over £20 m in 1996.[8] The increase was partly due to acquiring the rights to distribute Disney and The Simpsons products in 1996 and distributing the Toy of the Year, the Pogmaker.[8] Jordan Group, a private equity company from New York City, bought an 80% stake in Vivid in 1998 for £25 m.[9] In 1999, Vivid started distributing Sindy and obtained the rights to Playmates and Toy Biz products.[8]

Vivid became the third-largest advertiser in the United Kingdom and the number three toy company in 2000.[8] In 2003, Vivid Imaginations was bought by Phoenix Equity Partners, its management and venture capital company, for £62 million.[10]

Vivid Imaginations acquired licensing rights to Bratz in 2004.[8] 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, Disney Princess and Sindy, to rival Barbie owner Mattel.[11] Bratz was the most popular doll in the UK in 2005,[12] and was responsible for 30% of Vivid's turnover.[13] Sales of Bratz and Spider-Man-themed products made Vivid the number one toy company in the UK in 2005, the first British company to achieve this in 30 years.[12][14] Bratz owner MGA Entertainment set up its own UK office in 2008 and ended the distribution deal with Vivid.[13]

The Paris-based Vivid Europe subsidiary was formed in 2008 with the acquisition of Nomad Company, the distributor of Crayola across Europe (except Italy), the Middle East and Africa.[15] 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.[16] Vivid produced and distributed Thunderbird aircraft, action figures, puzzles and more.

In March 2017, Privet Capital,[17] a private equity investor, announced the acquisition of Vivid Imaginations for an undisclosed fee.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Remembering 90s Thunderbirds & Captain Scarlet toys". Den of Geek.
  2. ↑ "Animagic".
  3. ↑ "MOSHI PICKS UP 3 AWARDS AT THE LICENSING AWARDS 2012!".
  4. ↑ "Vivid inks Crayola deal".
  5. ↑ "Vivid and Drumond Park merge operations in UK and Ireland".
  6. ↑ "Nella the Princess Knight gets master toy licensee".
  7. ↑ "Nick Names 'Nella' Master Toy".
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Alan Bennie and Nick Austin of Vivid Toy Group were the recipients of the 2012 BTHA Lifetime Achievement Awards" (PDF). Vivid Imaginations. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  9. 1 2 Bawden, Tom (12 February 2005). "Phoenix toys with sale of Vivid". Business. The Times. p. 61.
  10. ↑ "Management buyout of Vivid Imaginations". The Lawyer. 20 January 2003. p. 11.
  11. ↑ "Vivid Imaginations and MGA link up for Bratz UK relaunch". Marketing Week. 17 July 2003. p. 8.
  12. 1 2 Butler, Sarah (1 October 2005). "Bratz doll wrestles Barbie into second". Business. The Times.
  13. 1 2 Dungan, Ronnie (31 May 2008). "Vivid Imaginations". Spotlight. Toy News. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  14. ↑ "Vivid Imaginations". Business. The Times. 1 October 2005. p. 60.
  15. ↑ "Vivid wins Crayola for EMEA". License! Global Weekly E-news. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  16. ↑ "Vivid sees "overwhelming response" to Thunderbirds Are Go toy line".
  17. ↑ "Privet Capital".
  18. ↑ "Press Release".
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