SUBMITTED BY katystarlet

August 7, 2001 — When Lara Croft needs help, she chooses Ericsson. And when Ericsson needs help, it turns to Alpha Marketing of Ellsworth.

For those who live in a cave, Lara Croft is the heroine of a popular computer game whose adventures have been transferred to the big screen. The film, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," stars Angelina Jolie as the bodacious cyber bombshell who fights evil in an attempt to save the world.

Throughout the movie, Lara relies on a variety of devices made by Ericsson, a Swedish company that is one of the world's largest mobile phone makers. Prominent in the film is the Ericsson Bluetooth Headset that Lara wears clipped to her ear, giving her constant communication with her techno-wizard partner Bryce, and leaving her wire-free and hands-free to battle a variety of villains both human and mechanical.

The film opened to a mix of lukewarm reviews and box office enthusiasm, but for the past six months, Alpha Marketing has been working to develop a theme for the company's marketing activities. The idea: Highlight the link with "Tomb Raider." Those efforts resulted in a prerelease support kit for Ericsson salespeople featuring a "Tomb Raider" backpack filled with film merchandise and a direct mail, interactive invitation to private screenings of the movie.

Steve Greene, president of Alpha Marketing, said his company's role is part of an overall international campaign by Ericsson. But much of the work generated by Alpha Marketing was done right here in Maine, such as the support kit for Ericsson salespeople.

That kit included a leather backpack imprinted with the "Tomb Raider" logo and filled with a variety of "Tomb Raider" merchandise: a cellphone, a Lara Croft action figure toy and a "Tomb Raider" candy bar. Although the merchandise was manufactured at sites around the country, the items were shipped to the Down East Horizons MDI Workshop in Bar Harbor, where workers packaged and distributed them.

The invitations for the private screenings held at a dozen sites around the country were produced by Studio 3, Alpha Marketing's neighbor on Main Street in Ellsworth, and were printed by Bangor Letter Shop.

In an attempt to garner that market, posters - developed by Alpha Marketing and featuring Jolie with her Bluetooth headset and the tag line "Powered by Ericsson" - are appearing throughout the country wherever the product line is available.