Coca-Cola Taps ELC for Licensing in Russia

The Coca-Cola Company has signed its first licensing agency for Russia after inking a deal with ELC.

According to Licensing International, the partnership will look to uncover deals across apparel, drinkware and novelty items within the region. Potential collaborations will focus on the Coke brand, but licensees will also have the chance to license other Coca-Cola labels including Sprite and Fanta.

Along with the ELC signing, Coca-Cola is also working on developing international store-within-a-store retail formats to provide a sales space for licensees. The company already has eight locations of these spaces in the works.

“We think about these [small format stores] for markets where it is hard to penetrate for wholesale,” says Kate Dwyer, licensing director, group worldwide, according to Licensing International. “The key will be finding partners that are vertically integrated and can do the product, branding and the marketing.”

The Coca-Cola news follows recent partnerships for the brand including with Netflix to relaunch New Coke.