The truth is that a brand's mascots aren't just characters: they're assets. Just as Kellogg's represents the company, Tony also carried that institutional weight.

Back in the early days of my life as a packaging designer – even before Sapien, when I was still a partner at Otto Design – we took on a project for Kellogg's that involved a small modification to the Frosted Flakes packaging, more specifically on the back, which always featured promotional jokes.

But when that packaging arrived, what really bothered me was Tony. He had a very cartoonish look: a big, goofy-looking tiger, typical of stereotypical American advertising. That didn't make sense to the Brazilian audience and it stuck in my mind.

So we decided to propose, on our own initiative, a more "Brazilian" version of Tony: laid-back, with an athlete's spirit, with that easygoing, almost Carioca (Rio de Janeiro) style.

The initial reaction was one of surprise. No one had asked to change the character, which was an established symbol of the brand. But the marketing team saw value in the proposal and decided to present the idea, which was fully approved by headquarters.

After that, we were also asked to update Cornelius, the character from Corn Flakes. We applied the same reasoning: adapting the character's look and language to the Brazilian reality.

In the end, it was one of those rare moments where an intervention that seemed out of scope ended up becoming a complete redesign of iconic characters. And that, indeed, was remarkable.

Sergio Kal