Jeep has picked Lara Croft to be its new spokesman and she has switched from a Land Rover to a Jeep for the next Tomb Raider movie.
Jeep has picked Lara Croft to be its new spokesman, with the character appearing in ads made to look like movie trailers, but convincing actress Angelina Jolie to say: “It’s a Jeep thing” was not easy.
The ads tie in with the second Tomb Raider movie, Cradle of Life, in which Croft, played by Jolie, drives a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. The movie will be released this year.
Jeep has replaced the Land Rover as the vehicle of choice for adventurer Croft. She drove a Defender in the first movie. The Rubicon is a modified version of Jeep’s Wrangler off-roader. Three special Rubicons were created for the movie.
Jeep will also extend the marketing reach of its tie-in with the movie by building 1 000 limited-edition Tomb Raider-themed Wrangler Rubicons.
“We wanted the ad to be so natural that people will understand this is a Jeep commercial, but it will have the look and feel of a movie trailer,” said Jeff Bell, Jeep’s vice president of marketing. The ads were filmed on location at the movie’s British set.
Jeep had difficulties convincing Jolie to say the payoff line. They tried to come up with another line that she would be happier to say, but in the end they convinced Jolie that it would not be a problem to say the line as it was the character who was the spokesman and not her. Jolie then made the ad saying the line: “Let’s see them catch me now”.
The deal joins a slew of other automotive tie-ins with Hollywood movies this year, including Cadillac and Warner Bros in the Matrix sequels, BMW’s Mini Cooper with Paramount’s The Italian Job, Mazda with Fox’s X-Men 2, and Toyota with Warner’s’ Terminator 3.