First, fans were able to vote on the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots’ names. Then, the characters, ‘Tom’ and ‘Vinicius’ starred in their own cartoon series. Now, we’re getting glimpses into the Rio 2016-branded accessories and souvenirs that are expected to become available through the Rio2016.com online store in February 2016.
Along with the more conventional souvenirs of stamps and coins, flip-flops, flags, jewelry, and even Lego models of the mascots are all Rio 2016-branded and will soon be ready to be bought and worn by Olympic fans all over the world. Of total sales Rio 2016 expects 70% of products to be bought by Brazilians and 30% bought by foreign visitors for the games.
Confident in the likability and popularity of the mascots, Sylmara Multini, Rio 2016’s Licensing Director, says that “we are certain that Vinicius (Olympic Games mascot) and Tom (Paralympic Games mascot) will account for some 25 % of our sales.”
In terms of the overall hysteria-like retail frenzy that typically happens around an Olympics, Multini stressed that “we need to prepare the Brazilian retail market for a wave of consumption that it has never seen before and will probably never see again.”
Five official Rio 2016 stores are already open in Brazil, with another 10 set to be in operation by the end of 2015. According to organizers, 58 licensing contracts will produce more than 8,000 licensed products.
This is sort of on topic, but does anyone know the swimming schedule for Rio next year? I can’t find it on the Rio site or Fina site.
SamH – have been asked as well, and haven’t seen any official publication….though all indications are that it’s unchanged from London. That’s not official yet, that we know of.