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44-413: The Pillsbury Doughboy was created by Rudolph 'Rudy' Perz, a copywriter for Pillsbury's longtime advertising agency Leo Burnett . Perz was sitting in his kitchen in the spring of 1965, under pressure to create an advertising campaign for Pillsbury's refrigerated dough product line (biscuits, dinner rolls, sweet rolls, and cookies). His copywriter, Carol H. Williams , imagined a living doughboy popping out of

88-508: A Chinese Year of the Tiger, for marketing and advertising techniques Tony was selected as Tiger of the Year. Following a few months later was the release of an innovative Tony the Tiger commercial. This commercial was significant in the humanizing factor of Tony with the birth of his first daughter, Antoinette. This advertising technique targeted the millions of infants as Antoinette the baby tigress

132-545: A Pillsbury refrigerated dough can and wrote the campaign, "Say Hello to Poppin' Fresh Dough". Williams was inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame in 2017. Poppin' Fresh was given a scarf, a chef's hat, and two big blue eyes to distinguish him from the rolls, as well as a faint blush and a soft, warm chuckle when poked on the belly. The Doughboy was originally designed by Milt Schaffer. Stop-motion animator Jim Danforth

176-742: A cereal icon. The final Tony the Tiger design came from a group of former Disney animators known as Quartet Films, which also designed the Jolly Green Giant , Snap, Crackle and Pop , the Hamm's Beer Bear , and the Baltimore Orioles mascot, among others. Stan Walsh, Art Babbitt , Arnold Gillesspie , and Michael Lah were the artists/filmmakers that formed the Quartet Films of Hollywood. A 1955 print ad in Life had Tony taking

220-560: A coalition that included Action on Sugar and Children's Food Campaign in the UK, found that 51% of 526 assessed "child-friendly" food and drink products with popular cartoon characters on their packaging were high in sugar, saturated fat, salt and fat, with only 18 healthy products such as fruit, vegetables and water were found to use child-friendly cartoons. Tom Watson of the Labour Party said using playful characters to appeal to children

264-583: A complete family of three. The evolution of this brand icon continued to rise as Tony the Tiger was featured in a Hot Air Balloon Championship in 1981. In 2019, it was announced that Kellogg's would become the title sponsor of the Sun Bowl , an El Paso, Texas -based college football bowl game , with the game being branded as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. The sponsorship transferred to WK Kellogg after

308-600: A decade at McKee's, and working through the stock market crash of 1929 , Burnett left the company. In 1930, he moved to Chicago and was hired by Erwin, Wasey & Company, where he was employed for five years. In 1935, Burnett founded the Leo Burnett Company, Inc. Later, the operation moved to the 18th floor of the London Guarantee Building. Today, the agency has 9,000+ employees in over 85 offices globally. In December 1967, nearing

352-409: A live-action world , frequently with his drawn image rotoscoped over a live character, such as an extreme sports athlete, allowing Tony to not just appear in live-action, but interact as well. The longtime voice of Tony, Thurl Ravenscroft , died in 2005. In North America, he was replaced from 2005 onwards by announcer Lee Marshall , who maintained the role until his death from cancer in 2014. In

396-409: A microphone away from You Bet Your Life host Groucho Marx and saying, "You bet your life they're Gr-r-reat!" A recognizable and distinct voice was needed for the Tony the Tiger character. Initially, he was voiced by Dallas McKennon , but shortly after the initial Sugar Frosted Flakes advertisements aired, McKennon was replaced by Thurl Ravenscroft , who spent the next five decades providing

440-460: A promotional mascot for gasoline products. Exxon then followed through with protocol and federally registered its tiger under the petroleum products category. Unlike the Kellogg slogan behind the voice of Thurl Ravenscroft , "They’re gr-r-reat!", Esso also had a slogan, "Put a tiger in your tank". The two major companies shared peaceful relations between the two iconic tigers. From 1952 to 1995,

484-693: A teardrop-shaped head was replaced by his fully-grown son Jr., who is now a sleek, muscular sports enthusiast—he was a coach for the Monster Wrestlers in My Pocket and a referee for the Monster Sports Stars in My Pocket (see Monster in My Pocket ). Tony the Tiger was never limited to American cereal boxes, appearing on Kellogg's European brand cereal boxes. Tony frequently appears in American commercials as an animated character in

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528-626: A tiger named Tony (named after an ad man at Leo Burnett—Raymond Anthony Wells ) and selected Martin Provensen for the finished artwork. The cereal had other mascots like Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant, and Newt the Gnu. Within the year, the other mascots were dropped (with Elmo and Newt never once gracing the front of the box), and Tony was given a son, Tony Jr. Tony the Tiger eventually became

572-660: Is remembered as the "Hold That Tiger" battle for the tiger trademark. Tony the Tiger, as well as other mascots featured in products targeted to children (such as Chester Cheetah and fellow Kellogg's mascots such as Toucan Sam ), has been the subject of controversy in several countries. A study published in the journal Obesity Reviews , suggested familiar media character branding appeared to be "a powerful influence on children's preferences, choices and intake of less healthy foods." Tony and similar mascots, have been banned from being featured in packaging and advertising in countries like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Mexico. A study by

616-406: Is the Year of the Tiger and Tony is the Tiger of the Year." Later that year, Tony graced the covers of Italian GQ and Panorama . In addition to Tony's success, during this decade, son Tony Jr. was even given his own short-lived cereal in 1975, Frosted Rice. Provensen's original art design for the tiger has changed significantly over the years, as Tony the whimsical, cereal-box-sized tiger with

660-471: Is “grossly irresponsible”, and the Health and Social Care Select Committee issued calls for a blanket ban on ‘brand-generated characters or licensed TV and film characters which are used to promote foods high in fat, sugar or salt." Consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks dropped 25 percent in the 18 months after Chile adopted these regulations, which also included octagon front-of-package warning labels and

704-723: The Gorton's Fisherman, Chef Boyardee , and Mr. Clean as some of the ten merchandising icons, depicted as having dinner together. He even appears in ads for the Got Milk? company and the Sprint Phone Company , and the GEICO insurance company. He also made a cameo appearance in the 1987 animation film The Puppetoon Movie . Over 50 different actors auditioned for the role of the Pillsbury Doughboy, among them

748-491: The 1970s; he was given an Italian-American nationality and consumers were briefly introduced to more of Tony's family including Mama Tony, Mrs. Tony, and a daughter, Antoinette. Tony was a popular figure among the young Italian-American population and it showed in 1974, where he was deemed "Tiger of the Year" in an advertising theme taken from the Chinese Lunar Calendar . The advertising theme declared, "This

792-434: The 2023 corporate split. In August 2022, Tony the Tiger made his debut as a VTuber on Twitch . Tony's design has changed over the course of the character's history. The original Tony the Tiger was more typically tiger-like in shape and was sometimes depicted walking on all fours; he wore a kerchief around his neck and had a football-shaped head. Ultimately, this was tweaked into a more muscular, human-like form. Tony

836-481: The LaFayette Motors Company – triggering Burnett to move to Indianapolis to work for the new firm. Soon he was offered a position with Homer McKee. He then left LaFayette and joined McKee, where Burnett said of the founder, "(He) gave me my first feel of what I have come to regard as the "warm sell" as contrasted to the "hard sell" and "soft sell". This was his first agency job. After spending

880-468: The Tiger Tony the Tiger is the advertising cartoon anthropomorphic tiger mascot for Frosted Flakes (also known as Frosties) breakfast cereal , appearing on its packaging and advertising. After the original Kellogg Company spun off its North American cereal business in late 2023, the mascot is owned by WK Kellogg Co in the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean markets and by Kellanova in the rest of

924-408: The Tiger began his trademark debut with Kellogg in 1952. The Tiger was used as a cartoon character featured on every box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. The feline was federally registered as Kellogg's Frosted Flakes trademark. Furthermore, the registration and classification was under food products. Twelve years later one of the top oil companies, Esso (now ExxonMobil ), began using a similar tiger as

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968-447: The Tiger. The very popular cereal company had concerns about the similarity and raised some red flags with trademark registration that same year. Kellogg continued to stress that Tony the Tiger was an advertising tool used on almost every cereal box, so a comparable tiger only differentiated by the addition of distinct five-ringed Olympic badge around his neck would cause confusion. Sports news and critics stirred up much controversy and it

1012-545: The UK in 1976, British voice actor Peter Hawkins voiced the character. Perz originally conceived the Doughboy as a cartoon animated figure but changed his mind after seeing a stop-motion technique used in the opening credits for The Dinah Shore Show . Cascade Pictures was hired to create a three-dimensional Doughboy puppet at a cost of $ 16,000. The Doughboy was brought to life with stop-motion animation , using foam rubber puppets with ball and socket armatures inside for

1056-558: The United Kingdom, Tony is voiced by Californian-born British actor, Tom Clarke Hill. For some time in the UK, the rock song " Eye of the Tiger " by Survivor was used in conjunction with Tony's viewings. In Canada, Tony is voiced by animation, commercial, and promo voice artist Tony Daniels . "Put a Tiger on Your Team" was featured in ads all across the nation in 1958 as Kellogg's cereal campaign reached out all children sports organizations and teams to build more consumers. In

1100-607: The agency that handled Cadillac's advertising. In 1918, Burnett married Naomi Geddes. The couple met at a restaurant near the Cadillac offices, where Naomi was a cashier. They went on to have three children: Peter, Joseph and Phoebe . During World War I , Burnett joined the Navy for six months. His service was mostly at Great Lakes building a breakwater . After the USN, Burnett returned to Cadillac. A few employees at Cadillac formed

1144-400: The body. The heads were typically made of resin, each with different mouth shapes or expression and animated using a replacement animation technique whereby the head would be swapped out frame-by-frame to match the mouth movements to the dialog. Beginning in 1992, the animation technique was changed to CGI animation, and continues to be used in new ads. In the 1970s, a Pillsbury Doughboy family

1188-533: The characteristic deep bass voice associated with the character, notably the familiar "They're gr-r-reat!" catchphrase. Thurl Ravenscroft came up with this phrase. Ravenscroft spoke to an interviewer of injecting his personality into Tony: "I made Tony a person. For me, Tony was real. I made him become a human being and that affected the animation and everything." In 1958, Tony appeared on Kellogg's cereal boxes with Hanna-Barbera characters such as Huckleberry Hound and Snagglepuss . Tony began to be humanized in

1232-534: The companies combined spent over a billion and a half dollars in advertising in the cereal and petroleum industries. Neither company faced any issues with each other—however, in 1992 this all changed. ExxonMobil opened a new business sector and product line through the promotion of the existing Exxon Tiger. The company failed to expand its federal trademark registration to its newest product line sector. Prior to Exxon 's newest business addition of opening convenience stores ("Tiger Marts") and selling foods and beverages,

1276-492: The company was at $ 55 million annually. By the end of the 1950s, the Leo Burnett Company was billing $ 100 million annually. Burnett used dramatic realism in his advertising, the soft sell approach to build brand equity. Burnett believed in finding the "inherent drama" of products and presenting it in advertising through warmth, shared emotions and experiences. His advertising drew from heartland-rooted values using simple, strong and instinctive imagery that talked to people. He

1320-447: The company was cleared of all trademark litigations. After the announcement of ExxonMobil's new product line, Kellogg quickly filed a suit. The latest unnamed tiger Exxon was using to sell food and beverages crossed the trademark boundaries. The confusion of using very similar tigers as a mascot for food products did not sit well with Kellogg. The lawsuit consisted of trademark infringement and dilution, and sought an injunction prohibiting

1364-583: The end of his career, Burnett delivered his "When To Take My Name Off The Door" speech at the agency's holiday gathering. On June 7, 1971, Burnett went to his agency, pledging to colleagues to work three days per week due to health problems. That evening, at age 79, he died of a heart attack at his family farm in Hawthorn Woods, Illinois . He is buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. A private company formed in 1935 and officially running under

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1408-466: The further use of the Exxon tiger. After several court appearances, millions of dollars, different rulings, and years of waiting, the two parties settled the case. Tracing back to 1986, Kellogg battled with a different situation with regard to trademark. During the preparation of the 1988 Summer Olympics South Korean organizers agreed on the games' mascot Hodori which was very similar to Kellogg's Tony

1452-411: The lower left-hand corner of his desk called "Corny Language". He collected words, phrases, and analogies that struck him as being particularly apt in expressing an idea. In 1947, Burnett wrote The Good Citizen , a booklet concerning the duties and privileges of being a U.S. citizen . This was done as a public service for The Advertising Council and The American Heritage Foundation . Tony

1496-405: The name of " Leo Burnett Company, Inc. ", the agency started with working capital of $ 50,000, eight employees and three clients. Now a part of Publicis Groupe , Leo Burnett is one of the largest agency networks with 85 offices in 69 countries and 9,000+ employees. For the first several years, Burnett billed about $ 1 million annually. By 1950, billings had increased to $ 22 million, and by 1954

1540-481: The same year of 1958, Tony the Tiger was joined by other popular mascots to promote the newest cereal release "pre-sweetened cereals. " Mass media and marketing during this time was on the rise, especially in the food product industry. In the wake of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes the cereal company's goal was to produce a flavor that was "delicious and distinctive flavor." In 1974, after the Kellogg Company launched

1584-431: The world. Tony has also been the mascot for related cereals such as Tony's Cinnamon Krunchers and Tiger Power. Since Tony's debut in 1952, the character has spanned several generations and has become a breakfast cereal icon. In 1952, Eugene Kolkey, an accomplished graphics artist and art director at Leo Burnett , created a character that was to become the official mascot of Kellogg's new breakfast cereal. Kolkey designed

1628-581: Was Paul Winchell , who is best known for voicing Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh franchise, but lost out. Paul Frees was the first actor chosen to be Fresh's voice and would continue to provide his voice for twenty-one years. After Frees' death in 1986, Jeff Bergman took over the role, until 2014. The high-pitched giggles were done by JoBe Cerny since 2014. In recent years, he has also been voiced by Peter New , Fred Young, and Jeremy Geller. In two adverts for

1672-468: Was also known for using "cultural archetypes" in his copy, by creating mythical creatures that represented American values. This is evident on such campaigns as Jolly Green Giant , Pillsbury Doughboy , Tony the Tiger and more famously the Marlboro Man . Indeed, these campaigns played on the 1950s attitudes towards masculinity that pervaded his campaigns. Burnett was known for keeping a folder in

1716-603: Was an American advertising executive and the founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. He was responsible for creating some of advertising's most well-known characters and campaigns of the 20th century, including Tony the Tiger , the Marlboro Man , the Maytag Repairman , United 's "Fly the Friendly Skies", and Allstate 's "Good Hands", and for garnering relationships with multinational clients such as McDonald's , Hallmark and Coca-Cola . In 1999, Burnett

1760-543: Was as a reporter for the Peoria Journal Star in Peoria, Illinois . In 1917 he moved to Detroit and was hired to edit an in-house publication for Cadillac Motor Car Company, Cadillac Clearing House, later becoming an advertising director for that institution. At Cadillac, Burnett met his advertising mentor, Theodore F. MacManus , whom Burnett called "one of the great advertising men of all time". MacManus ran

1804-408: Was created and sold as dolls individually and in the form of various playsets. Included in the family are: In May 2010, Pillsbury's lawyers served a cease and desist notice to My Dough Girl, LLC., a Salt Lake City, Utah cookie retailer. Some reported that an attorney for General Mills instructed her not to talk to the press. Leo Burnett Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971)

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1848-706: Was hired to animate him. The first Poppin' Fresh commercials aired in November 1965. Since then, Pillsbury has used Poppin' Fresh in more than 600 commercials for more than fifty of its products. He also appeared in a MasterCard 's "Icons" commercial in 2005 during Super Bowl XXXIX , with the Jolly Green Giant , the Morton Salt Girl, the Vlasic stork, Charlie the Tuna , Mr. Peanut , Count Chocula ,

1892-597: Was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Leo Burnett was born in St. Johns, Michigan , on October 21, 1891, to Noble and Rose Clark Burnett. Noble ran a dry goods store and as a young man, Burnett worked with his father, watching Noble as he designed ads for the business. After high school, Burnett went on to study journalism at the University of Michigan and received his bachelor's degree in 1914. Burnett's first job after college

1936-409: Was shown tasting Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes for the first time, followed by the Tony the Tiger slogan. The shape of the featured tiger was beginning to shape the cereal marketing and advertising sector by promoting new product lines. The company used Tony Jr. as its mascot to introduce nearly six new products that are high in nutrition in the mid-1970s. Throughout all of the 1970s, Tony the Tiger had

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