SumoSlim, TaekwonHindu, NinJew and ChrisCross might be the four interfaith animated stars of new series God’s Gang, but leaders behind the show urge it isn’t all about religion… despite what the show’s title may suggest.
“It doesn’t have any desire to preach or to persuade people to believe or not believe. It just takes the tenets of the different faiths for the superheroes. When they all come together, that’s when they beat the bad guys,” Jon Sumroy, chief marketing officer at God’s Gang, tells Prolific North.
God’s Gang, the name of both the series and production company, has already amassed 1.35m subscribers on YouTube and is led by former Disney executive Nimrod-Avraham May and an advisory board that boasts the likes of Bruce Daitch, a former CEO of Dreamworks Animation and ex-VP of Animation at Netflix.
During a video call with Jon Sumroy, currently based in Israel, he proudly shows off a branded ‘God’s Gang’ t-shirt. With a newly found career in the production world, he says Leeds will “always be home” having spent half of his life in the city.
But the pharmacist-turned-marketer has had an impressive career pathway that has taken him all around the world working for the likes of Unilever, helping the company to establish a base in Israel in the mid 90’s. Later, he became managing director of the consumer business at Johnson & Johnson and then chief marketing officer at 888, an online casino.
Adding yet another string to his bow, the father of four once again switched career paths and invented Mifold, a children’s car seat company.
“At heart, I’m a consumer marketer. I love storytelling and communicating with people whether it’s for shampoos and deodorants for Unilever or my own innovative car seat business.”
And Mifold is where he first met Nimrod-Avraham May, the creator and CEO of God’s Gang.
“Nimrod’s background was very much in venture capital and he introduced me to a number of people who later became investors in the Mifold business. We’ve just been friends ever since.
“When I left Mifold, which was a few years ago now, he asked if I would help him with this crazy idea he had about a children’s animated TV show featuring four superheroes from different faiths.”
From overseeing the beauty industry with deodorants and face creams over at Johnson & Johnson to slot machines with 888, animation was a world apart from what he was used to. But it was an opportunity he couldn’t refuse.
“As important and wonderful as the products that I dealt with were, there wasn’t much I was particularly proud of to leave as a legacy. And I wanted to leave a mark.
“After I finished my stint in the world of gambling, I made a personal decision that I really wanted to put my time and effort into things that I think were more valuable.
“It’s why I put my passion into creating child passenger safety products that save lives. There’s nothing more powerful than getting a letter from parents after a terrible collision, writing to thank us for the product that saved their children’s lives.
“Now, my opportunity is to be able to look back on this in years to come and have created something as enduring as the characters we all know and love – from the beloved Disney characters to Spongebob or Hello Kitty and do some good.
“At the core of it, marketing is the same skill set. You just have to understand who the target market is, what are you trying to talk to them about and how to craft the story.”
Now as chief marketing officer at God’s Gang, although it’s a “new role” to him, he believes the international advisory board filled with industry heavyweights who have previously worked at the likes of Sony, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks and Toonz Network, gives the new series the weight it deserves.
Despite his idyllic backdrop on the video call with the sun beaming through the window, it seemed remiss if I didn’t ask about the bleak global conflicts, including the on-going Israel and Gaza war, and whether a unifying show in the form of animation is needed.
“The world feels like it’s in a terrible place and the most divided it’s ever been. Clearly, there is the conflict going on in the Middle East, Ukraine, tension between China and Taiwan, and dozens of other conflicts around the world.
“There is absolutely a need for different messaging and we believe there is some educational value in helping children hear positive messages about inclusion and unity at an early stage.
“The only thing we preach is that. The earlier we can get children to understand that we are all the same, we are all one and we can all work together, we can overcome all of our trials and tribulations when we help each other, which is essentially the message of God’s Gang.”
But how exactly does God’s Gang do this through an animated series?
“It’s a movement for peace and unity through entertainment,” he explains. “That sounds really grand but we have Southern baptist preacher ChrisCross, SumoSlim who is Muslim, our Hindu character is TaekwonHindu, and NinJew who is Jewish.”
Viewers almost certainly have “preconceived ideas” that it’s a religious show. But, he asserts, once those viewers watch the YouTube series they’ll soon realise faith is just part of each character’s backstory.
“Our pilot episode already has more than 10 million views around the world. Many people commenting or watching it, even Atheists, have come to it with preconceived ideas, yet soon realise this is just entertainment. It’s literally saying that the strongest power in the universe is love and peace.”
With four different, complex, faiths involved, it seems like it might be tricky to get each character accurate without any backlash or stereotypes. Not according to Sumroy.
“We have an interfaith council including an imam, rabbi, preacher, a Hindu expert and a few other people. Their role really is to ensure we are not only respectful and sensitive, but accurate.
“We work with them to make sure it’s fun, entertaining and educational. The bad guys in each episode, away from the main characters, are the ones trying to create division and antagonism. Each time, the gang overcomes it.”
When it comes to interfaith characters in the show, inevitably they’ve seen the wrath of social media especially on the God’s Gang YouTube channel. But the team sees this as an opportunity.
“Fundamentalists argue that they are the one true religion. We have a policy, which is we will never delete or block a comment on social media. We use every single message as an opportunity to start a conversation and share our perspective.
“Sometimes people ignore our responses but others come back, conversations develop and they thank us. A major Athiest influencer discovered the series, observed it and commented. Now, she loves it and it actually gave us a significant boost to followers and subscribers.”
Beyond the pilot episode, the scripts are ready and waiting for the first season consisting of 10 episodes of 22 minutes each.
The ambition extends beyond the episodes as a business and, pointing again to his branded t-shirt, the team behind God’s Gang are keen to build a licensing and merchandising company too.
“We want kids to have the lunchboxes, PJs, artwork on the wall and everything else that goes with it because we are trying to build a business.
“That won’t happen if the kids don’t love the characters. They’ll only love the characters if the content is entertaining, we underpin all of that with peace and unity.”
But for now, the strategy is set on developing 52 x 3 minute episodes all to be broadcast on YouTube and social media as a means to “build a community around God’s Gang”.
“Ultimately, we are a start-up. We have investors who have helped us get to this point, and we’re doing a round of fundraising at the moment, which will close in the next couple of months.”
Currently raising $3 million, the company hopes the funding will help God’s Gang create more content, expand the team, and extend into merchandise and licensing.
“We want to continue delivering content on social media while we raise the funds to build the business and develop it, more for the more broadcast and streaming markets.
“I’m not dealing with problem gamblers or trying to make women feel insecure anymore because they’ve got lines on their faces and all the other things that were part of marketing for the products I dealt within the past.
“This is something where I wake up and think ‘I’ve brought two people together.’ This is lovely.”
