ZAG announced the appointment of Gaye Dean, a thirty-plus year veteran of Target Corporation, as vice president, North America retail development. The announcement was made by Jeremy Zag, founder and chief executive officer, ZAG.
Reporting to Lisa K. Foster, senior vice president, licensing, North America, Dean will manage strategic relationships across all tiers of retail throughout North America for the roster of properties under the ZAG Heroez label – an umbrella brand franchise that brings together the superheroes from ZAG’s animated properties. These include “Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir” and the latest series, “Ghostforce.” Upcoming properties include “Melody,” an animated feature starring singer, actress, and songwriter, Katy Perry. Dean will help further ZAG’s mission in building best-in-class licensed programs supporting licensees with product placement and promotion. Her initial focus will be to work with retailers on this year’s product rollout for ZAG’s Miraculous, a billion-dollar brand at retail.
“Gaye is an accomplished retail marketing leader and relationship builder with expertise in the entertainment brand-marketing and licensing sector, and she brings those skills to her role at ZAG,” says Foster. “We now have over 100 licensing partners on board in the U.S. for Miraculous, with the lion’s share of new products launching in 2023 and 2024, and we can’t wait to make them available for our fans! We are also currently presenting ‘Ghostforce’ to our licensees and retailers with toys from ZAG Play and Playmates launching in 2024. ZAG has a strong pipeline of programming in the works including Melody, which is in pre-production, that we want to share news about with our partners.”
Related:ZAG Unveils Inaugural Toy Line
Before joining ZAG, Gaye served for over three years at Pocket.watch as vice president, retail development. Prior, Gaye was with Target Corp. where she served as marketing director overseeing all areas of marketing for entertainment and brand licensing businesses. She was responsible for the creative development and execution of integrated marketing strategies, leading cross-functional teams, driving new business and growth and implementing traditional, digital and emerging media plans.
“With the outstanding success of their flagship brand, Miraculous, the ZAG name has become synonymous with providing empowering, engaging and high-quality content and products to fans across the globe,” says Dean. “I am naturally delighted to join ZAG’s team, working closely with Lisa to ensure that we have retail placement with strong visibility for ZAG’s brands across mass-market, mid-tier, specialty, online and independents.”
Related:ZAG Extends LatAm Consumer Products VP Role to Include Canadian Expansion