Other : Lucozade - Larazade

1999

​In 1999, energy drink company 'Lucozade’ became one of many sponsors of Tomb Raider, with many adverts produced for the UK - the first set showed Lara being chased by wild dogs whilst on an adventure. They had different outcomes - one advert saw Lara riding a gargoyle out of a temple, but in each one, Lara was able to progress calmly with the help of a sip of Lucozade. The adverts were created by the company 'Animal Logic'.
Press Document 01
​Dated: 20th April 1999

​​Read as a PDF Here 
Press Document 02
​Dated: 6th May 1999

​Read as a PDF Here 
Physical items were created for fans to immerse themselves into the promotion, such as a postcard and an urban backpack. ​Lucozade ran a promotional offer where people had to collect four bottle caps from the Orange or Original 1 or 1.5 litre bottles, and send them away to get this backpack.

2000

In 2000, Lucozade continued the £9.3m ad campaign, producing three more adverts, with Lara once again on the run from dogs and a chain-sawing madman, but there is always time for Lucozade for an energy boost. Even outtakes of the same advert were produced. In the book '20 Years of Tomb Raider', written by Meagan Marie, it is revealed that Peter Connelly helped to record some dialogue for the advert. There is a section where Lara blows a kiss to her fan and he recorded over 20 takes with Judith Gibbins, however none of them were suitable. He recorded himself blowing a kiss and it was his that was used in the advert.
Promotional Art
From the MegaStar, Core Design, Eidos Interactive and Lucozade websites.
Web Art
Official Lucozade Wallpapers
The underneath the images below, you'll find a link that will offer out the wallpaper in 3 sizes - 640x480 / 800x600 / 1024x768.
Official Lucozade Screensavers
Fans could also find 3 screensavers to use alongside their Tomb Raider/Lucozade wallpapers. Sadly, we cannot get them to run on our modern operating system so we cannot provide any pictures, but we're adding them here to download in case they are of use to others. We know that one of them shows a bottle of Lucozade raiding a tomb and another shows one of the TV adverts.

Raider | Croft Advert | Lara 

Post 2000

​The sponsorship was such a huge deal that Lucozade bottle labels were then changed to read 'Larazade’. Websites such as larazade.com (dated 2001), goneabitlara.com (dated 2002) and loaditlikelara.com (dated 2003) were set up. The Load-it-like-Lara adverts showed women dressed up as Lara in everyday situations, attempting to do things the Lara Croft way.

A desktop Lara, a flash game and even Lara/Lucozade merchandise were produced. Lucozade also ran a competition in 2001 during its Larazade promotional campaign (that ran from May to July 2001), which gave lucky winners Tomb Raider related prizes- a beach towel and a Dreamcast with a copy of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. Another competition in 2001 offered the chance to win 5 Land Rovers and a weekend of high adventure with messages on bottles saying "challenge Lara" and "compete at Croft Manor" as the sponsorship also built on the hype of the Tomb Raider movie. There was even a mini game on the Larazade website called 'Challenge Lara' that also offered prizes of Land Rovers and a chance to visit Croft Manor.
Thanks to the Scottish newspaper, 'Daily Record', dated to August 3rd 2001, we know more about the event at "Croft Manor":
​To celebrate, Lucozade Energy is running a two-day Tomb Raider challenge, in which teams of five will compete for five special edition Land Rovers (based on the Land Rovers featured in the blockbuster movie).

A series of challenges will test mental agility, team spirit and physical prowess, guided by Lara's high security personnel.

For the weekend of August 17-19 only, a manor house in a secret location is being re-designed to allow our winners to step into Lara Croft's world.

Her touch and energy is evident throughout this exquisite country home. And, in true Tomb Raider style, it is filled with ancient artifacts, medieval armour and much more.

Not only will our lucky winner be competing for a limited edition Land Rovers for each member of the team, they will also be able to relax and enjoy all the facilities this 74-bedroomed manor has to offer.

There's a snooker room, tennis courts, gymnasium, games room and indoor swimming pool.
And as reported on the Eidos Interactive website, Lucy Clarkson, as Lara Croft, was there to support the winners. Here is what was posted, featuring words from Lucy:
​“Basically, it was a competition run in association with Lucozade and there was a hundred people altogether that qualified to take part in the weekend,” said Lucy. “They were split up into teams of five and they had to take part in some pretty difficult activities like Abseiling and some other, more quirky ones like catching butterflies! At the end of it they each stood to win a Land Rover Defender, so the challenges had to be quite hard.”

Lucy herself spent the entire weekend keeping her eye on the people attending and making sure that everything went well. “I was there to make appearances every so often. For instance, they had a big banquet that I had to host and it also meant that I got to wear a long evening dress for a change! Then the Chief of Security would come in and say ‘Ms. Croft, there are some intruders in the top meadow – you have to come right away!’ And I’d whip out my gun that was strapped to my leg and say ‘Excuse me guests’ and run out. It was almost like a murder mystery weekend kind of thing.”

The event was part of a nationwide campaign that encouraged people to look under the lids of bottles of Lucozade to win prizes as well as promoting the smash hit Tomb Raider film. As Lucy told us, the winners were treated to quite a weekend. “The guests didn’t know what they were doing until five minutes before they were supposed to be doing it as they’d get a letter through their hotel room door explaining. It might say ‘The Chef is making a wonderful meal tonight – make sure you dress smartly.’ They’d turn up and something would happen.”

Even though Lucy didn’t get to take part in the activities herself, she did still get to cruise around in her jeep. “I didn’t do the abseiling, but I did get to ride around as I was there to keep an eye on everyone. They were on my grounds so I had to drive round in the Range Rover and make sure everything was fine, have a few photos taken that sort of thing.”
By 2002, the Larazade title was removed but with the new game at the time, 'Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness', the promotional slogan was now "gone a bit Lara". TV commercials showed women dressed as AOD Lara doing Lara-like stunts in their day-to-day lives. Competitions at the same time offered prizes such as tablet PCs, headphones and Smart Roadster vehicles. However, the sponsorship soon ended not long after the release of the game.

~ TIDBIT: Various prizes include: a lilo, a mini fridge cooler, a backpack and a beach towel. ~
Official Desktop Lara - Gone A Bit Lara - Download Link

2018

​On February 23rd 2018, Tomb Raider and Lucozade teamed up again in promotion of the third movie, ‘Tomb Raider’ (2018) in the US. There wasn't anything special about it, except for the slogan 'Energy Beats Everything'. A shorter version could also be seen.

In the UK, for the promotion of the game 'Shadow of the Tomb Raider', Lara's face could be seen on limited edition bottles. Buyers of the drink had to look for codes on the reverse of the label, and these codes could win you cash prizes, a console, a copy of the new game and also in-game resources.
Sources:
Campaign Live
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/larazade-armed-bottle-lucozade-glaxosmithklines-pounds-35-million-larazade-promotion-enables-tomb-raider-fans-interact-heroine-online-lucozade/133757?src_site=marketingmagazine 
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/lucozade-energy-continues-campaign/66325?src_site=brandrepublic
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/lucozade-energy-lara-digital-promo/182886?src_site=brandrepublic

The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jun/15/artsfeatures.games

TR Movie
http://web.archive.org/web/20010806002740/http://trmovie.com/2001_april.html

The Free Library
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/WIN+AN+ALL-ACTION+WEEKEND+WITH+LARA+CROFT%3b+YOU+COULD+EVEN+END+UP+WITH...-a076948984 

Eidos Interactive
https://web.archive.org/web/20011221140950/http://www.eidosinteractive.co.uk/newsinfo.html?nwid=129