The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2022
Leo Burnett and Kellogg's mark 70 years with Newt the Gnu, the mascot Tony the Tiger beat
For their 70-year anniversary, Leo Burnett and Kellogg's Canada revive the mascot who lost to Tony the Tiger in a jealous documentary short.
Leo Burnett · Kellogg's Canada
What it had to solve
Leo Burnett and Kellogg's Canada had worked together for 70 years and wanted to commemorate the anniversary in a way that showed the industry just how unique the relationship was.
How it works
Every success story has two sides, and for Leo Burnett and Kellogg's Canada the other side had a name: Newt the Gnu. When the two companies reached 70 years of working together, the agency went back through the history and found the mascot who had lost out to the iconic Tony the Tiger — and decided he should tell the anniversary story.
The result was a documentary-style short showing what Newt has been up to while Leo Burnett and Kellogg's Canada spent seven decades crafting and building brands. Instead of a straight reel of achievements, the film ran the partnership's history through the filter of Newt's jealousy.
The device did two jobs at once. It celebrated a rare 70-year agency–client relationship, and it made the boast watchable by pointing the camera at the one character with a grudge about it — the mascot who auditioned for the box and lost.
Why it lands
- A jealous narrator is inherently comic, so a self-congratulatory anniversary became entertainment rather than a victory lap.
- Newt gave the story a protagonist the audience could root for, turning brand history into character drama.
- The idea came from the archive itself: retracing the real shared history surfaced the real loser of the Tony the Tiger casting.
- Claiming the partnership was unique worked because the film admitted that someone else had paid the price for its success.
What it did
A milestone that could have been a self-congratulatory reel became a self-deprecating character story: the partnership was framed through the eyes of its most jealous loser, giving Newt the Gnu a second life as the narrator of the anniversary.
What you can take
When you have to celebrate yourself, hand the story to the loser of your own history — a jealous narrator turns a boast into something funny, believable and impossible to ignore.
Since then
The short was filed under Animation in D&AD's awards archive, keeping Newt the Gnu alive as the mascot who lost to Tony the Tiger and making a private agency–client milestone into a public story about one of advertising's longest working relationships.
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