Argonon & News UK alums launch branded content firm House Of Oddities

Sachini Imbuldeniya

Sachini Imbuldeniya and Darren Smith, who until recently were exec creative director and chief creative officer at Argonon-owned branded content firm Nemorin, have launched their own prodco and agency.

London-based House of Oddities (HOO) will produce TV shows while also creating strategies to drive engagement across all other mediums, working with both commissioners and brands to get shows greenlit.

HOO aims to “develop programme ideas that meet the needs of commissioners… and then create the full ‘ecosystem’ of content around these shows that is owned by brands and makes sure they reap the benefits [from] the show itself.”

The company added that “it can do all this for a much lower cost than reaching out to separate content, digital, creative or production agencies too.”

The moves comes a year since Imbuldeniya and Darren Smith joined Nemorin, which Argonon acquired in 2020 as part of its growth strategy out of the pandemic.

Imbuldeniya, who becomes CEO at House of Oddities, joined Nemorin from News UK’s Bridge Studio last year, along with Darren Smith. He most recently worked at FinTech company APLYiD and is chief creative officer at the new firm.

“Brands have moved on from the old days of expecting a half-hour show to be a long puff-piece about how great their products are: brand marketers are savvy and respect the need to tell a great story in order to attract audience interest, engagement and loyalty,” said Imbuldeniya.

“We’ve created HOO as a new agency that can bring a fresh perspective to TV programming – and maintain creative excellence while delivering tangible results for brands and more revenue for TV companies.”

Smith added: “With the right editorial skills and strategy we’ve proven that we can make brands pay for great TV… and make great TV pay for brands.”

The duo are joined by co-founders Juan Leon, a filmmaker who is an executive producer at HOO, and Juliette Otterburn-Hall, who joins as non-executive director.