Don Tennant

Publish date: 2024-08-04

Ad exec created Tony the Tiger and famed jingles

Don Tennant, father to two Hollywood honchos and the ad exec who created such characters as Tony the Tiger and famed jingles, died Saturday Dec. 8 in Los Angeles from heart disease. He was 79.

Tennant worked for 20 years at the Leo Burnett ad agency in Chicago, home to “critters” to brand packaged goods. (Other Burnett critters include the Jolly Green Giant, the Keebler Elves and the Pillsbury Doughboy.)

After serving as a naval officer during World War II, Tennant began writing for radio and TV shows, then joined Burnett in 1950 as a radio/TV writer-producer, rising to lead the agency’s worldwide creative operations. He also edited and directed commercials and composed jingles, including “You get a lot to like with a Marlboro: filter, flavor, pack or box” and “Nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven, and Pillsbury says it best.” Under Tennant’s leadership, Burnett changed Marlboro from a woman’s cigarette to a masculine-oriented brand and introduced “Fly the Friendly Skies” as the theme for United Airlines.

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Tennant left Burnett in 1970 and became chairman and creative services director at the Clinton E. Frank agency in Chicago, then two years later opened Don Tennant Advertising, which became Nobel-Tennant and then Nobel & Associates.

Survivors include two sons, Tim, president for integrated creative services at Aspect in Hollywood, creative entertainment marketing agency, and Andy, director of TV shows including “The Wonder Years” and movies including “Fools Rush In” and “Anna and the King”; a daughter, Tracy; and six grandchildren. His wife, Barbara, died in 1996.

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