Vivid Imaginations

Vivid Imaginations is a company based in Guildford, Surrey, that manufactures, designs and distributes toys and holds distribution rights on a number of television shows and films. Captain Scarlet was the first of many distribution deals that turned Vivid into the UK's number 1 toy and game manufacturer. Over the years Vivid has produced toys for Thunderbirds, The Simpsons, the Cars, Shrek, Toy Story 3, WWE, Disney, and Bratz, as well as in-house-developed Animagic.

Vivid has produced dolls based on Take That, JLS, The Wanted, One Direction and Justin Bieber. Vivid's portfolio also includes Crayola and Moshi Monsters.

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 and The Simpsons products in 1996 and distributing the Toy of the Year, the Pogmaker. Jordan Group, a private equity company from New York, bought an 80% stake in Vivid in 1998 for £25 m. In 1999, Vivid started distributing Sindy and obtained the rights to Playmates and Toy Biz products.