A 70-year-old cereal mascot suddenly is more relevant than ever.

Could Tony the Tiger matter to a new generation? It’s a question we’ve faced plenty of times in the seven decades since we created Tony for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. But we’d never had to so completely break Tony free from the confines of the :30 ad to rebuild his fan base.

What helps people…

Fans today expect a lot more access to their favorite celebrities and influencers than Tony—cereal’s biggest celebrity—was giving them. To solve that, we gave him a real presence in the world. Tony is now an actual guest on late-night talk shows and SportsCenter, a participant in Zoom calls with kids, and close pals with a who’s who of famous athletes.

He's also the first brand mascot to become a streamer on Twitch, the world’s most popular live-streaming website. Like other influencers, Tony isn’t just watched by his fans anymore—he hangs out with them too.

…helps business.

Comedian John Oliver may have put it best on his HBO show when he summed up everything we’ve done for Tony by saying, “That is a more richly detailed cinematic universe than what Marvel has made in 13 years.”

The results: Purchase intent, online brand mentions and brand favorability are all significantly up. Tony himself became one of the top 10 most-watched streams in the world. And as Ad Age succinctly put it: “This is the future of brand marketing.”