BIG BOOST FOR
MOVIE MERCHANDISE
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com Source:
Internet Wire
[ June 26th 2001 ]
Paramount
Pictures recently enrolled the help of Ericsson,
Pepsi and Land Rover who associated the Lara Croft
brand to help sell their products and promote
the Tomb Raider motion picture. Internet Wire
today focuses on the ramifications such ties has
on the commercial market:
Noticed
Tomb Raider star Angelina Jolie strutting her
stuff on the side of your super-size Mountain
Dew at Taco Bell recently? Thank a 152-year-old
company in the traditional Midwestern "rust belt"
for the pleasure. As part of the giant, privately-held
Menasha Corporation, Promo Edge is headquartered
in Neenah, Wisconsin, where it has carved out
a lucrative niche in the field of game-piece merchandising
and other promotional products for major movies,
brand manufacturers and others. This week, Taco
Bell, a division of Tricon Global Restaurants,
Inc., is promoting the Promo Edge-designed "The
Tomb Raider Instant-Win Game" on its fountain
drinks. Promo Edge helped design and produce the
game for Tricon, which has exclusive Tomb Raider
licensing rights among quick service (fast-food)
restaurants.
"Movie
merchandising is clearly a huge industry and certainly
fun for us to be involved in," says Tom Kukuk,
New Business Development Director at Promo Edge.
"For us it was a natural evolution, having been
involved in retail game-pieces and other creative
promo products since our inception." Paramount
has deals with phone maker Ericcson and auto manufacturer
Land Rover in addition to Pepsi and Tricon Global
as promotional partners for its film version of
the video game "Lara Croft Tomb Raider," which
opened June 15. Together, the partners are expected
to contribute $30 million-$35 million in media
support to the action movie starring Angelina
Jolie, bringing total media spending from partners
and the studio to about $50 million. This is Pepsi's
first movie tie-in since "Star Wars: Episode I
- The Phantom Menace" and its only summer movie
promotion this year.
According
to Kukuk, Pepsi will be tying to the film through
TV and print ads, special packaging and in-store
materials on all core Pepsi brands, linking to
a sweepstakes. A major prize is Sony's hot PlayStation
2. The Davie-Brown Agency, led by Jim Davie and
Brad Brown in Los Angeles, was instrumental in
putting the deal together. For Ericsson, "Raider"
marks the only major film tie-in besides the 1997
Bond flick "Tomorrow Never Dies." Dusyant Patel,
vice-president of marketing for Ericsson Consumer
Products, said Ericsson currently has an "integrated
marketing effort" around Tomb Raider, complete
with TV and print advertising that uses images
of the film and its stars, a sweepstakes, in-store
signage and trade promotions such as private screenings.
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