It’s gr-r-reat

Pink Key Licensing’s Richard Pink, talks us through a new style guide for one of their most popular brands!

“Born in 1951, he’s 70 years old this year. To attain his spot as an iconic mascot he saw off competition from Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu. He was drawn by the same group who created the Jolly Green Giant and his voice for over 50 years came from the phenomenally named Thurl Ravenscroft.

I can only be talking about much loved advertising icon and mascot, Tony the Tiger.

In the many years that he has been the spokesman for Frosties (Frosted Flakes if you are stateside) his appearance has changed more than once. He’s had a son, a wife and we’ve also been introduced to his mother!

However, the character and values of Tony have never really changed and he has always been synonymous with his catchphrase. You only have to say, ‘They’re Gr-r-reat!’ in that voice and everyone knows who you are talking about. (I do a pretty good impersonation-ask me if you see me!)

My own personal favourite memory of Tony was an ad you can still find on YouTube: set in a proper cowboy landscape and called ‘The legend of Tony the Tiger’, it signs off with the tag line ‘who was that striped man anyhow?’ It still makes me laugh – but I digress…..

Since Pink Key began licensing seriously in 2010, Tony has been a large presence in what we do. He has been the centrepiece of our stand at BLE many times and one of the main attractions for our many licensees. Tony apparel has appeared in retailers globally, ranging from regular appearances in Zara, Primark and H&M, all the way up to Bloomingdales and his take-over of Anya Hindmarch’s central London store with a range of Tony handbags. Trends come and trends go but we count ourselves exceptionally fortunate that we have a number of brands and characters that people seem to gravitate towards, and Tony is very near, if not at, the top of that list.

But, other than his magic 70 years, there are a couple of things to get very excited about for our striped companion. There is a burgeoning interest in our boy which is going to be translated into product hitting the market globally in Q1 2022. ‘Why is this?’ I hear you cry. Well, dear reader, it just happens to be the Chinese Year of the Tiger, and if there is a more loved and known Tiger who can represent this, then I’d like to meet him (Tigger who ….?).

However, in addition to this we have our very first brand spanking new style guide, 100% dedicated to the man himself, or rather, the cat. It’s full of new art that reflects Tony’s rich

heritage, history, values, his unmistakable appearance and his ‘can do’ attitude. The new guide places Tony in a totally contemporary setting with some fantastic design executions, slogans, patterns, badges and backgrounds, along with themes covering, amongst others, sports and holidays.

The initial response we’ve have has been really positive and we can’t wait to see some of the product that our licensees are going to be developing using the new guide. We think it’s a huge step forward for the development of Tony and, what’s more, …..it’s Gr-r-reat (sorry, I couldn’t resist)! “