The total revenue from marketing so far tops $1.3 billion (£790 million/€964 million), triple the revenue generated from the Bid Book obligations, while the retail programme for the Games is the largest in the event's history, according to Sochi 2014.

Sochi 2014 launched its marketing and retail programmes in 2009.

As part of the marketing plan, the right to use Olympic and Paralympic marks in Russia was given to the top partners of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Sochi 2014 national partners at all tiers, in addition to companies who have signed a corresponding licencing agreement with the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee.

The IOC top partners for the Winter Olympics include Coca-Cola, AtoS, Dow Chemical, General Electric, McDonald's, OMEGA, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung and Visa, while the top partners for the Winter Paralympic Games include Atos, Samsung and Visa.

Sochi 2014 also offered several tiers of the National Partnership Programme to partner-companies for the right to be associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi on Russian territory.

The earnings from the marketing programme so far are 1.5 times greater than those for Vancouver 2010, claim organisers.

The licencing programme has seen licencees for the Games issue about 5,000 souvenir items with Sochi 2014 symbols, while sales of official Sochi 2014 products are anticipated to reach $500 million (£304 million/€371 million).

There are more than 4,500 official Sochi 2014 retail outlets across Russia ©Sochi 2014



As part of the programme, 55 contracts have been signed in categories such as apparel and footwear, sporting goods, household goods, accessories, stationery, souvenirs and toys with organisers revealing revenue has exceeded $30 million (£18 million/€22 million).

Sochi 2014 licencees were selected via a competition and they acquired the rights to the production and sale of merchandise bearing the marks of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games of 2014, including the Sochi 2014 and Russian Olympic Committee logos, as well as images of the mascots and pictograms.

In terms of the retail programme, there are more than 4,500 outlets across Russia selling official Sochi 2014 merchandise, making it the biggest programme of its kind in Winter Olympics history, say organisers.

To date Sochi 2014 claim more than 3.6 million of "plush souvenirs" have been sold.

Among the official retail operators for Sochi 2014 are some of the biggest outfits in Russia, including X5 Retail Group with 3,500 shops; Begemot and Begemotik with more than 800 outlets; Sportsmaster has more than 340 shops and BOSCO with more than 30 outlets operating in Moscow and Sochi.

In addition, Uvenco has supplied more than 115 vending machines in the offices of the 2014 Games marketing partners.

Official merchandise is also available through the official Sochi 2014 online shop which was launched in December 2011.

The site is operated by Megafon and the shop is open 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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