Santa Monica, CA – March 29, 2023 – In response to accelerated global growth over the past two years at ZAG for the company’s flagship brand Miraculous™ – Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, and Ghostforce™, which has been earning top ratings across Europe, ZAG has appointed respected industry executive Mark Kingston to the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Products. The announcement was made today by Jeremy Zag, ZAG’s Founder and CEO.

Kingston will report to Julian Jacob Zag, EVP, Global Operations and Head of Consumer Products, under whose leadership ZAG’s consumer products business has grown exponentially. New offices have been established around the world in Paris, Frankfurt, London, Montreal, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Shenzhen, collectively delivering over US$1 billion in retail sales (as of December 2021) for Miraculous™. In his new role, Kingston, who will be based in London, will spearhead the ongoing growth of ZAG’s consumer products business that includes licensing and merchandising, promotions, gaming, and location-based experiences, for all the intellectual properties in ZAG’s portfolio, including the animated feature Melody™, starring singer, songwriter, and actor Katy Perry, which is currently in production.

“Mark is an entrepreneurial, accomplished, and results-oriented executive with broad international experience who can spearhead ZAG’s licensing and merchandising activities around the globe,” commented Jeremy Zag. “His expertise at Paramount in developing innovative and sophisticated solutions to deliver some of the world’s top-grossing global brands will be invaluable at ZAG as we continue to grow, and I look forward to working together with him.”

“ZAG’s content resonates with broad audiences around the world, delivering first-class family-friendly storytelling grounded in real life with a little touch of magic to help the characters not only fight supervillains, but also help them to discover themselves, all delivered with a sophisticated cinematic experience,” added Kingston. “It’s an incredible opportunity to join ZAG and work alongside Julian and lead the respected team of executives as the company continues to focus on developing products and experiences that inspire a new generation.”

Kingston joins ZAG following an eleven-year career in London, UK, at Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS/Viacom International Media Networks) where he served most recently as SVP, International Consumer Products, responsible for overseeing and delivering all commercial aspects of the company’s international consumer products division, with team members across multiple disciplines and in 18 countries. Prior, he held senior commercial and retail sales and marketing roles at both The Walt Disney Company and BBC Worldwide.

About Miraculous™ – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
Miraculous™ – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir continues to be everyone’s favorite superhero story and has been ranked by IMDB among the Top 10 Best Animated Shows in the last 20 years (September 2020). Available in over 120 countries, season five of the series started to roll out in fall 2022, to be followed by the highly anticipated $US100M+ animated feature supported by several yet unannounced cobranded partnerships with some of the most influential companies across the globe. With a core audience of 52% girls and 48% boys ages 6-12, and a massive fan base of young adult “Miraculers,” (ages 15-25), Miraculous has become a digital planetary craze with over 33 billion views on YouTube (authorized and user-generated content); over 200 million downloads of the official app; and over 550 million+ plays on Roblox. Over 280 million products have been sold and retail sales have surpassed US$1B worldwide to date. Miraculous is the winner of 31 awards including finalist for Best Licensed Brand among perennial classics in the Licensing International Excellence Awards, 2022; and Best Animated Series in the Kids Programming category at the 2023 Kidscreen Awards.

The 3D-CGI-animated superhero aspirational action-comedy series Miraculous™ – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, created by ZAG and co-produced with Method Animation (Mediawan Kids & Family), follows the adventures of two seemingly typical teens with secret identities, Marinette, and Adrien, who magically transform into superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir. As secret superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir are partners in the action. But in the daytime, Marinette is just a normal girl, living a normal life. Cat Noir will do anything to support and impress Ladybug but does not know this is Marinette from his class. Marinette, the regular girl, in turn dreams of Adrien and simply gets little response. When evil threatens Paris, their beloved City of Lights, can they beat the unexpected villains?

About Ghostforce™
The stakes are high but always incredibly fun in Ghostforce! LIV, ANDY, and MIKE are three junior-high school students who secretly form a team of superheroes—the Ghostforce—to fight the ghosts of New York. Their founder and commander is Ms. Jones, a brilliant scientist who does everything she can do to better identify the ghosts and has even created a fourth member, GLOWBOO, an Artificial Intelligence running on phantom energy. With each mission, Liv, Andy, and Mike transform into Myst, Fury and Krush, superheroes armed with the powers of the ghosts they capture and high-tech gadgets invented by Ms. Jones. They are the only ones who have the ability to hunt down the ghosts and fight them… before they hurry back to school so they don’t miss the next science class!

In the global market, Ghostforce has launched in most European countries becoming the market leader in various kids’ target groups, with single airings reaching up to 40.9% share among all kids ages 3-14 and 51.2% among kids 6-9! In France, where the series debuted on TF1 in August 2021, Ghostforce achieved an audience share of over 35%. In the U.S., Ghostforce is available on Disney XD. The series is also available across Japan, India, CIS, and the Middle East on Disney Channel.

About Melody
Melody is an animated musical feature created and directed by Jeremy Zag, starring singer, songwriter, and actress, Katy Perry, in the title role, and co-produced with Cross Creek Pictures. Katy Perry will co-write and perform the songs for the film. In this musical adventure, kind-hearted, insecure yet prodigious singer Melody must overcome the evil plans of Rose Stellar, a jealous wicked pop queen with jealousy who has vowed to destroy her. Set against the backdrop of New York City, Melody will take audiences on an adventure of song, laughter and heroic quest. With Melody, are her “Seven Dwarves”-like musical notes that help guide her moral compass in more ways than one. Packed with magic, love, and wonder, Melody is an uplifting and inspiring story of self-discovery that celebrates the importance of fulfilling one’s dreams by believing in oneself and, above all, that to love is stronger than to be loved.

About ZAG
ZAG is a global independent entertainment studio specializing in world-class storytelling across TV, film, and digital platforms. ZAG’s foundation is rooted in compelling characters, limitless imagination, and masterful storytelling infused with original musical scores. The company is home to world-class entertainment properties under the ZAG HEROEZ label, including Miraculous™ – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir as well as Ghostforce (2021). ZAG is also currently in production on Melody, an animated feature to star Katy Perry; and recently signed a 10-movie deal with Cross Creek Pictures. Visionary director and composer Jeremy Zag founded the ZAG Kids and Family Entertainment Group in France in 2009, further expanding the company to the USA in 2012 with the Global Brand Franchise office in Santa Monica, California. ZAG now has offices in Paris, London, Montreal, Santa Monica, Miami, Mexico, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Frankfurt, Dubai, and Shenzhen. ZAG’s Consumer Products Division, helmed by Julian Jacob ZAG, EVP, Global Operations and Head of Consumer Products, includes the licensing and merchandising, gaming, promotions, and toy groups, and focuses on developing products and experiences beyond the screen into brands that inspire the new generation to discover their true character. https://www.zag.com