Tony the Tiger is changing roles with the times, and so is advertising for the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes that he has so distinctively represented for 60 years. The cereal giant is asking its venerable mascot to play offense instead of defense in a new approach to advertising its so-non-PC sugary cereal.

Kellogg's TV ad features an athletic Tony clowning around in the back yard with a father, his young son, and playing baseball.

With the noose tightening around Kellogg's freedom to advertise Frosted Flakes to kids, because regulators and activists are trying to further throttle promotion of suspect foods directly to children, the company has decided to try some new tactics.

Instead of targeting moms, Kellogg's is aiming directly at fathers. As Ad Age notes, more dads are buying groceries these days, and more fathers say they're eating Frosted Flakes along with their children.Continue reading...

One of the strengths of the Kellogg brand over the years has been its menagerie of fetching characters, from Tony the Tiger on Frosted Flakes to Froot Loops’ Toucan Sam. But the flipside of all those attractive pieces of intellectual property is having to defend them from trademark violations.

Kellogg is getting more aggressive in protecting its trademarks by making more filings than any other American company with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office – 224 of them last year. It beat out other proactive protectors of well-known brands including Johnson & Johnson, Apple and the NFL.

The company owns nearly 500 trademarks in the U.S. and enforces them in 180 countries, reports Crain’s Michigan Business. It also filed more than 40 applications for new trademarks last year.Continue reading...