Frosted Flakes was in freefall, with double digit declines year after year. What’s worse, Tony The Tiger, the original cereal mascot, had lost relevance. He’d occasionally appear to cough out his catchphrase “They’re g-r-r-eat” and fade back into the obscurity. When asked, some kids even thought he was a bear. Ouch.

2018 was do or die time. We had to resuscitate the brand and Tony. We needed give him a real purpose and reason for being beyond a one dimensional pitchman…or pitchtiger.

We dug back into Tony’s DNA. His mission is, and always was, “Bringing out the Tiger in kids” through sports.

Unfortunately, school sports were under attack. Funding was being cut all over the country and 3 out of 10 sports programs were on the verge of being dropped all together.

The brand, and Tony, just couldn’t stand for that. Suddenly, Tony the Tiger had a reason for being beyond selling cereal.

So, we launched “Mission Tiger.” With the help of some high-profile friends like Stephen Colbert, Shaquille O’Neal and Ben Simmons, Tony would bring back school sports with a simple mechanic: Buy a Box. Support the Mission.

Active Kids are Happy Kids. Active kids are less likely to do drugs, smoke, engage in risky sex and lots of other spooky stuff.

Sports are a hugely effective way to keep kids active and teach grit, teamwork and confidence. Values that can help kids realize their full potential, or as Tony would put it, “Be Tigers.”

Plus, sports are fun. Remember?

Take away sports and things get scary, but money is tight. Sports programs have half the money they did just a few years ago. Estimates showed that 3 out of 10 schools would have to drop their sports programs by 2020.

We decided to re-introduce Tony The Tiger as a sports icon with a mission: to save school sports. We called it “Mission Tiger.” We built a simple mechanic: Buy a Box. Support The Mission. Donations went to Doners Choose and then directly to middle school sports programs.

Rather than use Tony The Tiger as a one-dimensional mascot, we re-cast him as a sports elder-statesman. A guy with a golden Rolodex chock full of athletes and celebrities who were more than willing to help.

We launched the effort with a :15 sport featuring Tony recruiting NBA star Ben Simmons. Paid social and earned media drove to a newly designed website: missiontiger.com, which encouraged people to purchase a box and support the mission.

Tony expanded his team to include athletes Julie Ertz and Ed Reed. They quickly racked up $220,000 for the mission. Tony even booked a high profile spot on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Shaquille O’Neal and Candice Parker then joined the cause. With Tony, they crashed a Philadelphia Middle School Zoom call and announced a surprise donation of $200,000 to build a new basketball court, which landed on GMA’s “Play of the Day.”

Most importantly, the Mission generated 17 Billion impressions, raised over $1,000,000 and helped over 500,000 kids. Bam.

Plus, we fueled a huge increase in Frosted Flakes sales (10.4% increase in dollar sales and 11% increase in volume).

And remember that dusty old Tiger that kids thought was a bear? Tony The Tiger is now the most recognizable cereal mascot among kids 6-12. Tony is back, baby.