Viral TikTok Duo Cost n’ Mayor Bring The Moves To J.I.D’s Reimagined 'Hey Tony' Jingle For Frosted Flakes

For generations, Tony the Tiger has been more than just a cereal mascot. He’s been a motivator who turns breakfast into a daily pep talk with his signature flakes.

Now, in its first-ever culture collaboration, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes is encouraging teens to tap into their inner tiger. The brand recently teamed up with longtime Frosted Flakes fan and rap artist J.I.D to reimagine the iconic 90s “Hey Tony” jingle. 

From that collab came another - to create a dance to go with the song - by viral TikTok duo Cost n’ Mayor. The duo, Austin and Marideth Telenko, sat down with The Blast to talk about the collab, their TikTok community, and their new live NYC show.

Long-time Frosted Flakes fan and Grammy-nominated rap artist J.I.D partnered with the beloved cereal brand to reimage the iconic 90s jingle, "Hey Tony." (Beware: this song is sure to get stuck in your head!)

"Kellogg's Frosted Flakes has always had a seat at the breakfast table when I was growing up, and Tony the Tiger has been in my corner since Day One," J.I.D said, according to a press release sent to The Blast. "Reuniting with the brand to recreate the iconic 'Hey Tony' jingle draws on my own childhood nostalgia, and I couldn't be more excited to come together to hype up the next generation with a soundtrack that motivates them to unlock their potential."

And since every catchy tune needs an equally catchy dance to go with it, the brand furthered the efforts by teaming up with a viral TikTok dance duo.

When Frosted Flakes landed in Austin and Marideth Telenko's DMs, they were psyched. 

"It was so exciting. See Frosted Flakes and Kellogg's name in the inbox was so cool and honestly so nostalgic," Austin told The Blast enthusiastically. Marideth added, "Just the biggest cereal people ever. Tony the Tiger is just iconic."

When discussing the process of coming up with the dance to go with J.I.D's "Hey Tony" jingle, Marideth said it's been great watching short form video really jumping into the spotlight on social media. She said they just wanted to create something fun that anyone can do.

"We've worked in the dance industry for a long time, but in the past few years, it's not just professional dancers doing our choreography anymore. It's teenagers after school and moms of three and anyone has the ability to just set up their phone and dance," she said. "And that's so exciting. It takes so much confidence and boldness. It's really fun to align with a campaign that's encouraging that kind of confidence from not just professional dancers, but from anybody to just get off your feet and have a good time."

She further explained that when creating the dance, they wanted the choreography to reflect good, pure fun. From start to finish, it took the duo under an hour to come up with the dance that now graces their social media pages for all to enjoy.

"I remember listening to the track multiple times. There are so many good parts in it," Austin said. "After going through it and just knowing what Kellogg's and Frosted Flakes wanted to get across, it was easy. It was fun to just come up with that choreography that felt good and that we knew would translate on so many other people that were going to partake in it." 

Marideth jumped in to add, "We wanted it to feel exciting enough to feel new and interesting, but also cool and swaggy enough to feel nostalgic."

With millions watching their videos, one might wonder if they ever feel pressure to top previous viral videos. The duo said they don't "put that kind of pressure on ourselves."

"We're very fortunate to have created such a supportive community online that I never feel that kind of pressure from them. I think we've been fortunate to have a very gradual rise of engagement online," Marideth said. "There wasn't one moment that we just like exploded and then felt oh, well, this was the video that did well, so we have to stick to this or now we're backed into this corner."

One series does stand out to the duo though - the text tones series. While they originally didn't think people would resonate with it and take it all in, that's exactly what happened.

"We did a series where we danced to every single iPhone text tone that exists, and it took us a long time," she said. "At the beginning of the series, I was like, there is no way people are going to stick around for months of us literally just choreographing a two-second sound every single day." But their followers did!

Just a few weeks ago, the duo's live NYC show opened, "11 to Midnight." When asked how that idea became their dream come true, they explained how they met while living in New York as dancers. Both have always loved live performance, and after touring with the group Pentatonix in 2022, they realized they missed that live performance aspect.

"Dancing for live audiences every night and just craving that in person connection between stage and audience, and we were like, we've got to get back to New York and do this again. And so we started concepting out shows," she said. "And the rest is history. We made it in a year, which is crazy to concept it, make it and get it to an off-Broadway stage in a year. It has been the greatest journey ever, and the show is so much fun and getting to do it in front of an audience in New York every night is unreal."

After each show, the duo meets fans outside the stage door, which is something they both agreed is exciting for them.

For more information and to get tickets to "11 to Midnight," visit the website.