Brand veteran Michael Francis is joining DreamWorks Animation as their chief global brand officer, a newly created position for the company.
Francis will be responsible for the company's licensing, consumer products efforts and franchise management, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"I am tremendously excited to join the DreamWorks Animation team. This is an incredibly powerful global family brand with enviable brand equity and significant untapped potential," Francis said.
He continued saying, "DreamWorks Animation has a number of exciting opportunities for future growth and I look forward to working with Jeffrey, Ann and the entire team to take on this new role of elevating their iconic branded entertainment properties to even greater heights around the world."
DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg explained that Francis will help the company create new ways to build its branded characters around the world as well as across different outlets like television, video games, books and theme parks.
"He is in the last 20 years without question one of the most innovative, successful executives in the world of branding, franchise building and product development. I consider Michael one of the most important strategic hires we've made at DreamWorks," Katzenberg said, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
Francis spent 26 years at Target Corp. where he worked his way up through the ranks and served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. He then left Target and moved on to be the president of JCPenney. Francis also founded his own consulting company called Fairview Associates, whose clients included Gap Inc.
He will begin immediately at DreamWorks Animation on a part-time basis and in February he will assume his full-time role.