PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The wise-cracking tom cat known across the globe as Talking Tom is hitting the road, taking his group of two and four legged friends along with him. The new property from Outfit7 – code named Tom On The Road – expands on the characters’ loveable and interactive nature, allowing them to be seen, heard and touched by fans in a whole new way. Tom On The Road follows the enormous mobile achievements made by the Talking Friends franchise – the one billion download milestone was announced this month, and the company also posted over 600 million combined views between user generated content, YouTube webisodes and videos.
Tom On The Road includes television, home entertainment, live events and attractions, merchandise as well as its spiritual home, mobile and web. The new property will hit consumers in a major global launch in October 2015, following an early sneak peak in the final quarter of 2014.
“We’re confident our legions of fans are ready to see and play with Tom, Angela, Ginger and the gang across other platforms and venues,” said Samo Login, Outfit7’s Chief Executive Officer and one of the company’s original founders. “We’ve vetted this property across the globe ten times over through our mobile apps and YouTube videos, focus groups, live events in Hollywood and more. It’s time.”
As many know, Talking Tom is a charming, social cat that likes to get the attention that is due to a big celebrity in the making. His best friends Talking Ben (a visionary and a talented inventor, though sometimes carried away by his own creativity) and Talking Pierre (music and video-games lover and often good-hearted trouble-maker) provide comedic support for his efforts, while Talking Angela (the sophisticated city Kitty, with a highly talented music pedigree) is the ever-elusive love interest. Talking Ginger (a youthful, energetic dreamer) and Talking Gina (with a wise and supportive head on her shoulders) help the group in their effort to discover the path to fun and fame.
Outfit7 seeks licensors to support Tom on The Road in toys, publishing, apparel and home ware categories. The Talking Friends property, as well as the new Tom on The Road project, continues to resonate with both families, and boys and girls aged six to twelve.
With over 170 million monthly active users since its first app launch in July 2010 and over one billion downloads to date, Outfit7 is one of the world's fastest growing entertainment franchises. Its Talking Friends franchise has become an entertainment phenomenon with the characters featured on ABC's Modern Family as well as NBC's Today Show. There are 14 characters in the Talking Friends group, including Talking Tom Cat, Talking Angela and Talking Ginger. Each of the Talking Friends apps features a unique and fully animated 3D character that comes to life when poked, tickled, and played with on mobile touch-screen devices for the iOS and Android platforms. The interactive characters can engage in friendly two-way conversations about their feelings with users or repeat things users say to them, and customised videos of interactions with the characters can be shared via Facebook, YouTube or email.
Outfit7 is headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus with subsidiaries in Palo Alto, USA; London, England; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Seoul, South Korea.
