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Licensed to thrill
By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-08 14:03
 From stuffed toys to mobile phone-friendly mascots, Olympic licensed products can form a nice appendage to visitors' memories of their Olympic experience, or at least something tangible to show they were there.
With thousands of products stamped with the Beijing 2008 logo to choose from, the difficult part is choosing among them. Economic considerations may help filter the list, with some costing as little as 10 yuan ($1.20) and others as much as hundreds of thousands of yuan.
Most are in the middle to low price brackets, with stationery and pins going for less than 30 yuan ($3.9).
"We want more people to feel the Olympics," said Liu Jun, deputy director of the marketing department at the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).
The Beijing 2008 Licensing Program was officially launched in November 2005 and there are now 64 licensed manufacturing factories. Over 5,000 kinds of products are sold in more than 1,000 licensed stores across the country.
"Cheaper products like stuffed toys, key rings and mobile phone mascots are among the most popular," said Zhang Hongwei, sales director of Beijing Gongmei Group Co Ltd, which just enlarged its licensed store into a flagshop on Wangfujing Street.
"As the one-year countdown has now arrived, we expect more purchasing highs."
People can even make purchases on the Internet as an official e-store has just opened (www.2008eshop.cn).
Some pricier commemorative gold and jade products are also proving popular.
Organizers issued a limited-edition replica of the Beijing 2008 Olympic emblem (Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing) at the end of 2005. Exactly 2,008 of the products are available for 56,000 yuan a piece.
The seal, made of white jade from Hetian in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is half the size of the original. It has already sold out with orders fully booked soon after its release.
Last month, a set of jade Fuwa, the Beijing 2008 mascots, went on sale. The worldwide issue is also limited to 2,008 sets, with each valued at 290,000 yuan. Booking orders have exceeded expectations, said Zhang.
"Some gold products are very popular with collection," he added.
The Beijing 2008 licensed products are also being sold in the US. According to Tang Yonghong, head of BOCOG's licensing division, the products will start to be sold worldwide in the second half of this year.
Yuan Bin, director of BOCOG's marketing department, said the income of the licensed products has met their expectations at this stage.
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