ViacomCBS Consumer Products Bolsters Asia Team with Two Hires

ViacomCBS Consumer Products has added two more appointments to its team in Asia. Masakazu Soeda has been named vice president and licensing head for Japan, Southeast Asia and India; and Kim Hyowon joins as creative director for Asia.

Soeda now leads the overall licensing business in Japan, Southeast Asia and India across all ViacomCBS franchises. He oversees the local activity of global partnerships, sources and executes local licensing and promotional deals, and will continue to expand VCP’s fast fashion DTR business across the region. He is also responsible for managing the commercial teams in Japan and Singapore, driving retail sales and marketing with a particular focus on e-commerce.

Soeda was most recently global licensing head at Uniqlo, where he managed the licensing program for the brand. Prior to that, he was managing director of advertising agency ADK America (New York), during which time he was responsible for the agency’s licensing business for North America, LATAM and EMEA. He is based in Tokyo and reports to Mark Kingston, senior vice president, international licensing, ViacomCBS Consumer Products.

In the role of creative director for Asia, Hyowon is responsible for the overall creative management of the VCP portfolio for the region. As part of a global team, she provides local insight and strategic guidance to develop and evolve the creative direction of ViacomCBS properties off-air. She also oversees the delivery of best-in-class products, promotions, retail and marketing as well as creative assets.

Hyowon joins from GoPro in Shanghai where she was creative director for Asia Pacific. In this role, she led the creative strategy and execution, as well as the roll-out of product launches for the brand. She has worked with companies such as Mattel (Hong Kong and Korea) and Sedo (Korea), in similar roles. Hyowon is also based in Tokyo, reporting to Nibs Dearsley, vice president, international creative and franchise management.

“We believe that there is great opportunity for growth of our consumer products business in Asia,” says Kingston. “We have underscored the importance of this revenue stream with our latest partnership with Japan’s leading e-commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba, with the launch of Nickelodeon’s first-ever digital storefront in Asia. With the addition of Kaz-san and Hyo, we now have in place the teams and expertise to focus on and drive our efforts in all our markets in the region.”