Delay in launch of originals costing Organising Committee Rs 1 crore a day

Fake CWG merchandise floods Delhi's markets

Delay in launch of originals costing Organising Committee Rs 1 crore a day

Want an authentic Commonwealth Games t-shirt? How about a nice pen-drive or a wristband? Well, you'll have to wait a bit, unless of course you are not averse to pirated stuff.

As the official CWG merchandise is yet to hit the markets, bootleggers are ruling the roost. Fake Games ware like caps, sweatshirts, jackets, mugs, mouse pads, key chains, umbrellas etc are readily available at your neighbourhood stores. In the process, Games organisers are losing out on revenue that they were hoping to earn from the sale of the merchandise, which usually sell like hot cakes before any big-ticket sporting event.

The contract to produce the merchandise was signed as late as May 19 this year with a minimum guarantee fee of Rs 5.2 crore. The launch was originally scheduled for June 24 when the Queen's Baton Relay entered India through the Wagah Border. Had that happened, goods worth Rs 25 crore would have been sold already said an official of Premier Brands, who have bagged the contract to produce the merchandise. But with not even a single mug or t-shirt sold yet, organisers are losing as much as Rs 1 crore everyday.

There were also plans for 70 outlets across the Games venues and almost 200 stores across shopping malls, metro stations and the airport, but all this is slowly coming to a nought.

u00a0It really seems to be a case where the Organising Committee hitting the axe on their own foot. Not only has this 'unprofessional attitude' not gone down well with corporates, their lack of imagination hasn't enamoured many either. For instance, Premier Brands printed one lakh CWG postcards, to distribute free in schools - a good way to publicise the Games, but the organisers allegedly objected even to that.

Compare this to the Beijing Olympics where merchandising sales started almost three years before the event or the London 2012 Olympics where flagship store and online sales have started with two whole years to go.
An official from Premier Brands, who informed us that the company has been informed by the OC to delay its merchandising launch, said: "The OC have said that they are not satisfied with the merchandising products and asked us to launch the sales from 6th of August."

The first phase of sales of merchandising items was to begin from the second week of July, with sales vans and a store at the OC headquarters being the points of purchase.

A CWG official told MiD DAY that the merchandise would reach the stores soon. However, he was not willing to answer any other queries and said the delay was due to logistical issues. Early marketing of these merchandising items would have created the much-needed hype and awareness, which the CWG sorely needs.

There are various brand properties related to the Games that can be leveraged by an official licensee - the 'Delhi 2010' logo, the 2010 CWG mascot (Shera), games based on the event, pictograms, other signature elements and the CWG 'Team India' logo.

REAL DEAL
Earlier in July, OC took out an advertisement regarding its copyrights over Commonwealth Games logo and threatened legal prosecution against those found selling Games merchandise. The advertisement came in after raids revealed that several merchants were selling products with Shera printed on them. Said a senior OC official, "Presence of fake merchandise shows there is a demand for Games memorabilia. But due to delays we have failed to take advantage of this interest."

Here's Shera
Satish Bidla, a 23-year-old youth from Chandigarh, got his new identity as Shera on December 24, the day he first donned the traditional Shera dress - blue shorts and white jersey. And since then, he has not looked back. "Nobody calls me Satish anymore. Everybody in office calls me Shera," smiles the youth, the original face behind Shera.
Satish came to Delhi from Chandigarh last August. "I was looking for a job and found a vacancy here (in OC). I applied and was selected as an office boy," said Satish. "Then one day they told me that I will be the Shera. I agreed. I was happy."