Eidos Interactive Prepares Mass Marketing Blitz for the Thanksgiving Release of Tomb Raider III The Adventures of Lara Croft (1998)

Official Press Release - November 12, 1998

With a multi-million dollar print and television ad campaign, wall paintings, billboards, bus wraps, a wide variety of retail promotions, Internet and direct mail campaigns, Eidos is alerting the world that its cover girl of gaming will star in her third PlayStation and PC game.

"With the awareness of Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise hitting a fever pitch, our focus for Tomb Raider III is on the mainstream consumer with an integrated, high-powered, outdoor, TV, print, and online campaign," said Paul Baldwin, vice president of marketing, Eidos Interactive.

Eidos plans to air its 30-second national and cable television spots featuring a James Bond theme. In addition, Lara Croft will be featured in Sony Computer Entertainment America's PlayStation campaign consisting of 30-second national television spots with a media buy that includes high-profile programs such as "X-Files," "Friends," "Dawson's Creek," "Newsradio," and "King of the Hill."

Larger-than-life Lara Crofts will grace city streets when Lara debuts on urban buses, billboards and 60-foot tall wall paintings. Tag lines such as "Around here no mission is impossible" compare Lara Croft to action superstars of yesterday and today.

An extensive game book and consumer print ad program will run in high profile publications such as Details and Spin as well as a wide variety of retail promotions and direct mail campaigns. Online advertising includes banner and button advertisements, special online promotions with LifeSavers candy and Geffen Records, as well as Eidos' Tomb Raider.com, a site that averages thousands of hits per day.

Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II starring Lara Croft sold more than 9 million copies for the PlayStation and PC. This year, grass roots fever created a whirlwind demand for Lara from the coffee table book, Lara's Book contributed to by noted author Douglas Coupland, to comic strips such as the nationally-syndicated "FoxTrot" by Bill Amed and cover stories in specialtyermany.