Darran Garnham explains how the company’s agile infrastructure will be key to its growth going forwards.
“We want to do things differently. I have been in the entertainment business for 20 years having bought and sold rights, watching amazing companies succeed and grow, some fail and others go public. All of this has led me to this point,” explains Darran Garnham on the creation of his new company, TOIKIDO.
The company – which came about during a brainstorm between Darran and his friend, Jeff Hall – will aim to have an ecosystem across licensing, gaming, sport, music, live events and entertainment, partnering with existing studios and developing its own brands, games and content.
First out of the blocks will be collectables, plush, action figures, dress-up and “a few other surprises” for Among Us, the hit online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by US game studio Innersloth, which notched up over 264m downloads in 2020.
“Among Us offers such a magnificent variety of colourful character and dress-up combinations,” says Darran. “We are going to market with an IP already played and loved by millions of fans. The demand for product from the fans is so high. There is passion from all involved to make the products as true to the game art and style as possible. It’s important to us to design a range the fans will be proud of. The game is amazingly inclusive so there will be something for everyone.”
The focus for Darran and the TOIKIDO team this year will be on Among Us and laying the foundation for fans to access “amazing products” in every market globally. In addition, Darran also hints at a couple of additional “unique” opportunities to announce as the year progresses, with its next step to develop TOIKIDO IP. In February, it also confirmed that it had been named master toy partner for Netflix animation, Back to the Outback.
“We’ve a wide range of ideas that we are researching and building right now; all based on robust consumer and commercial insight and each one is just phenomenal,” he says. “But, we’re going to be very strategic about what we launch when and we’re going to use our agile infrastructure to maximise every opportunity.”
This feature originally appeared in the spring 2021 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
