Zag ramps up consumer products division with appointment of Sarah Boyer to Vice President of Retail in North America
“We are entering the next phase of tremendous growth for ZAG and especially our flagship global brand phenom, Miraculous! Given the roster of new licensees coming on board, it is the ideal time to welcome an executive of Sarah’s caliber in the retail space to our robust consumer products’ team,” commented Julian Zag. “We have a wide range of new products slated to hit retail shelves in 2021 and 2022, culminating with the $100M theatrical release of Miraculous Ladybug And Cat Noir The Awakening and the launch of seasons four and five of the series. Miraculous continues to build across all touchpoints—television, retail, digital, theatrical—and we couldn’t be more thrilled with how our brand continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.”
Reporting directly to Kirk Bloomgarden, the ZAG’s SVP, Global Licensing, Boyer will manage strategic relationships across all tiers of retail for all of the properties under the ZAG Heroez™ label—an umbrella brand franchise that brings together the superheroes from ZAG’s animated properties. She will continue our work in building best-in-class licensed programs, supporting licensees with product placement and promotion, working alongside our growing team of recent appointments, including Rebekah Belzer, VP, New Business and Retail Development, Lisa Foster, VP, Licensing, North America, and Elinor Schops, VP of Games & Interactive Experiences.
“It is such an exciting time at ZAG with the global growth of the Miraculous brand, in particular, and I am excited to work with Julian, Kirk and the ZAG team to develop even stronger retail relationships to bring a wide range of products across all of the ZAG Heroez™ brands to market in the coming years,” said Boyer.
Boyer’s immediate remit is to work with retailers for ZAG’s Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, for which over 150M products have been sold during the past three years. The new toyline from ZAG Labs and Playmates will debut in 2021 in North America. Additional new products to rollout include books from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (LBYR), a division of the Hachette Book Group; costumes and accessories for wholesale retailers from InSpirit Designs, a division of lifestyle retailer Spencer Spirit Holdings that owns and operates Spencer’s and Spirit Halloween. Miraculous is Spirit Halloween’s #1 direct-to-retail license for adults and kids at their over 1,325 owned and operated retail locations. Other new products soon to be available include bedding and home décor from Jay Franco, Bentex and Bioworld for apparel, Komar Brands for sleepwear, underwear from Handcraft Manufacturing, Hot Topic for DTR apparel program, PPE Foundation for face masks, Peachtree Playthings for craft and activity, Inkology for stationery, AXNY for smart watches, and Taste Beauty for beauty products.
Boyer will also work with ZAG Lab and Playmates across its portfolio of brands, including Power Players and Ghostforce, the company’s newest property, currently in production for Disney Channel EMEA, TF1, and Discovery Kids Latin America.
Boyer has extensive retail experience in executive roles at several major studios, including serving as Walmart Team Lead and Director of Sales, South, for Dreamworks Animation, overseeing retail sales across all categories at Walmart, including toys and seasonal, soft lines, hard lines, grocery, and consumables. Before joining ZAG, she was Senior Director, North America Retail Business Development at MGA Entertainment, developing go-to-market strategies and establishing retail partnerships in mid-tier, specialty and mass channels. Previously, Boyer served as Vice President, North America Retail Business Development at 20th Century Fox Consumer Products, directing strategic placement of a complete FOX portfolio of TV franchises, theatrical releases, and 200+ Vault properties across mass, mid-tier, specialty, drug/grocery and department stores in North America. She started her career in retail, as a buyer for both Dillard Department Stores and Walmart Stores, Inc., then forged a path in the licensing and entertainment worlds, working for world class companies such as The Beanstalk Group and Nickelodeon.
