MARKETING MIX: PROFILE: Screen-fighting man - Larry Sparks marketing director Eidos Interactive

She’s a gun-slinging, ass-kicking cyberbabe, with a sprinter’s

thighs and more silicon than the cast of Baywatch. He’s a fast-talking,

hype-seeking marketer. Together, Lara Croft - heroine of Tomb Raider -

and Larry Sparks - worldwide marketing director of its publisher, Eidos

Interactive - have made Tomb Raider the most successful video game

ever.

Published in November last year, the game has sold 2.7 million units

worldwide and Lara Croft has become a cultural icon, a virtual Spice

Girl.

She’s toured with U2, modelled cyberfashions for top designers, launched

her own merchandise, appeared on the cover of The Face and Melody Maker

and is to star in a feature film next year. She’s also got her own

dedicated Web site and a single Internet search produces around 80,000

references to her name. But forget the anoraks - the suits are also keen

to indulge in a bit of cybercrumpet.

The sequel, Tomb Raider II, was in such demand that Eidos had to

postpone the release date in order to boost in-store stock levels. The

game finally hit the streets last week and immediately broke all sales

records. In its first week, 85,000 copies have been sold, smashing Final

Fantasy VII’s record of 33,000 units.

Understandably, Sparks is proud of the game’s success, but is conscious

that its launch came when consumers were tuned in to the idea of female

heroines. ’When we launched Tomb Raider, we knew it would be successful,

but had no idea it would be quite this big. Luck, as well as a carefully

contrived marketing strategy, had a lot to do with it. We couldn’t have

launched the first female action hero at a better time. People couldn’t

get enough of Girl Power,’ says Sparks.

But Sparks did not rely on The Spice Girl’s Girl Power phenomenon

alone.

He made the game larger than life, taking it outside the gaming

fraternity, by ensuring that all the right people - namely the

glitterati - got to play it, thereby giving it the ultimate street cred.

Sony PlayStations and copies of Tomb Raider were left where celebrities

had to wait for a long time, such as the green room at Top of the Pops,

and hotel suites used by football and rugby teams.

The result was not always positive, laughs Sparks. Liverpool goalkeeper

David James admitted that his poor performance against Manchester United

last April was a result of him staying up all night playing Tomb

Raider.

Sparks puts his success in marketing Lara down to his ability to keep in

touch with what is happening at ground level in youth culture. He gives

the impression of being more of a Del Boy than a man of theory. He has a

knack of providing the game-playing public with what they want.

While at US software publisher Acclaim, Sparks was responsible for

launching the first fighting game, Mortal Kombat, which received

overwhelmingly bad publicity because of its violent nature. ’I think of

myself as a street marketer. I understand what people want,’ he

says.

Though he insists that many women are grateful to see a powerful female

character taking the starring role, he is more new lad than new man and

ruins his attempt at political correctness by adding: ’She’s a beautiful

silicon babe, but what’s more beautiful is that you can switch her off

when you’ve had enough.’

Even Eidos’ rivals admit that Lara Croft has been chiefly responsible

for giving the gaming industry mass-market appeal. ’Sparks is a highly

creative and unusual marketer. He pushes both people and ideas to the

limit. Lara Croft has been so popular because it has been sold through

sex. I didn’t think that would succeed, but for that I admire him,’ says

Simon Butler, general manager at rival games publisher BMG.

Sparks, however, is not ashamed of exploiting Lara’s cyberbabe qualities

- a man’s idea of the perfect woman, as critics point out. ’It was the

way to get her out there in mainstream media. It ensured we got

Lara-mania,’ says Sparks.

He is confident that Tomb Raider’s popularity will not suffer a downturn

similar to that suffered by The Spice Girls, but some industry observers

are not so sure. ’Our industry is characterised by products of short

shelf life. You can add new elements to games, but people are looking

for an exponential change,’ says David Wilson, head of European PR at

games publisher Electronic Arts.

Sparks, of course, disagrees. ’Lara will join the classic superheroes,

such as Batman, and will only experience overkill if I let her. I have

no intention of doing that,’ he says.

BIOGRAPHY

1977-1979

Business systems analyst, P&O Containers

1983

Marketing manager UK, then European marketing manager, Activision

1988-1990

UK marketing manager, Medusa Pictures

1991-1995

European marketing director, Acclaim

1996 - present

Worldwide marketing director, Eidos Interactive.

This article was first published on Marketing