According to Andriy Kononov, deputy director of Ukrainian Souvenir, an additional, extended line of merchandising will go on sale by the end of April. Special 2005 Eurovision Song Contest merchandising can be purchased at the store Ukrainian Souvenir on Pushkinska Street 31 and in a few hotels in Kyiv. Ukrainian Souvenir is the official Ukrainian agent of BadgeCompany, the company behind eurovisionshop.tv.
Wide assortment
A wide assortment of souvenirs, which include symbols of the contest, ranging from coloured t-shirts with the logo ánd the sublogo of the contest, caps, lanyards, cups, stylish handicrafts, such as jewellery boxes, towels, and candle holders. In short, an extensive selection of various products is planned (approximately a thousand items), all of which contain the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest logo.
Sales points
During the contest more than 50 representatives of Ukrainian Souvenir will be distributing the official souvenirs throughout the Eurovision Song Contest territory. These salespeople will be dressed in Ukrainian national costumes and will be carrying special boxes with the souvenirs. Besides this, these items will be sold at the Building of Gifts and at 21 different hotels in Kyiv, as well as in other major cities of Ukraine, such as Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Kherson.
As the products are mainly produced for the national market, a limited number of items will be sold through eurovisionshop.tv, to give those who don't come to Kyiv the opportunity to obtain the new, extended merchandising line (see infographic below).
Supporting disabled people
More than 20 firms in different regions of Ukraine, producing national folk products, are working on the souvenir items. In a positive way, it's remarkable that among these firms are companies that employ only people with disabilities. The Kyiv City Council supports the distribution of the new merchandising line.
Fake products?
Producers of the official souvenirs are taking serious measures to ensure that counterfeit products are limited. Thus, each object will have its own holographic license. T-shirts and stickers will be protected by special stitching around the contest logo. Pirates are already being monitored by a special government agency, the Bureau for Monitoring of Fake and Counterfeit Products. The Bureau will be responsible for confiscating illegal products and opening criminal cases.
