Keebler Brand Guidelines: The Elves, the Hollow Tree & ‘Uncommonly Good’

Keebler’s magic is a mascot and a tree.

Keebler is a lesson in mascot magic. The company traces back to 1853, when German immigrant Godfrey Keebler opened a bakery in Philadelphia. Over the decades it grew as a federation of regional bakeries — merging into the United Biscuit Company of America in 1927 — and only adopted “Keebler” as the single national brand and company name in 1966. But what most people picture when they hear “Keebler” isn’t a 19th-century bakery; it’s elves baking cookies inside a magical hollow tree. That whole world was invented by advertising. (Honest caveats: no official brand hex or wordmark typeface is published, so the colours and type here are approximate.)

The Keebler Elves were created by the Leo Burnett ad agency in 1968, branding the bakery “The Hollow Tree Factory.” A nuance worth getting right: the first head elf was J.J. Keebler (a blustery character, 1969); Ernie Keebler became head elf in 1970 and grew into the brand’s enduring, gentle-voiced face. The tagline “Uncommonly Good” dates to that 1968 campaign, and “Elfin Magic” became an associated slogan. The elves, the tree and Ernie turned a commodity cookie-and-cracker maker into a warm, whimsical, instantly recognisable brand — the mascot is the identity.

Ownership has changed hands significantly. Kellogg acquired Keebler in 2001 (for about $3.86 billion). Then in 2019, Kellogg sold Keebler and its cookie brands to Ferrero (the Italian confectioner, owner of Nutella) for about $1.3 billion, closing that July; the business is run by Ferrero’s U.S. subsidiary, Ferrara Candy Company. One important caveat: the cracker brands (Club, Town House, Zesta) did NOT go to Ferrero — Kellogg kept them (now under Kellanova after its 2023 split), so “Keebler crackers” is largely legacy. Keebler’s cookies — Fudge Stripes, E.L. Fudge, Chips Deluxe, Sandies — went with the elves to Ferrero. A 170-year-old bakery, remembered for its elves.

Keebler lives in red, gold and tree green. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Keebler’s palette pairs a warm red and golden yellow (the wordmark) with a friendly hollow-tree green and warm bakery browns. The red and gold read as cheerful, appetising and classic, while the green is the signature of the magical tree where the elves “bake” — a colour that ties the whole whimsical world together. It’s a warm, friendly, family-oriented scheme that matches the cosy, storybook character of the brand. The honest caveat: Keebler publishes no official public brand hex — the red, gold and green here are approximations, not a confirmed spec.

The lesson is a palette that supports the story. Keebler’s red, gold and tree-green don’t just look friendly — the green literally carries the hollow-tree mascot world. For designers, it’s a reminder that colour can reinforce a brand’s narrative, not just its mood. The takeaways: use warm, appetising primaries for a food brand (red and gold); add a signature colour that supports the brand story (the tree green); and treat specific hexes as approximate when no official spec is published.

The wordmark is a whimsical, rounded type — warm and storybook.

Keebler’s whimsical, rounded wordmark is warm and storybook — friendly, softly rounded lettering with a slightly magical, hand-crafted feel, matching a brand built on elves, a hollow tree and “Elfin Magic.” The type is cosy and approachable rather than corporate, and it fits the family-friendly, fairytale world the mascots create. It reads like something from a children’s storybook — which is exactly the gentle, whimsical charm Keebler has always projected. (Because the exact face is custom and undocumented, the honest description is “a whimsical, rounded type,” not a named font.) The type behaves like the brand: warm, whimsical and storybook.

Keebler sold a story, and it stuck.

Keebler is a lesson in building a world around a product. A cookie-and-cracker maker is a commodity business, but Keebler became beloved by inventing an entire world — elves who bake by “Elfin Magic” inside a hollow tree, led by the gentle Ernie Keebler. That storybook universe, created by Leo Burnett in 1968, gave the brand warmth, whimsy and memorability that the products alone never could, and it has endured through multiple owners across more than half a century. The lesson is that a rich, imaginative brand world — mascots, a setting, a tagline — can make an ordinary product unforgettable.

For designers and brand-builders, Keebler offers a clear takeaway: a well-built brand world can outlast everything else. The lessons: invent a memorable world and characters to give a commodity personality (the elves, the hollow tree, Ernie); tie the palette and type to that story (tree green, whimsical rounded lettering); and keep it warm and family-friendly so it endures. It’s also a reminder to keep the facts precise — Keebler traces to Godfrey Keebler’s 1853 Philadelphia bakery and adopted the national name in 1966; the elves and Hollow Tree were created by Leo Burnett in 1968, with Ernie Keebler becoming head elf in 1970 and “Uncommonly Good” as the tagline; Kellogg owned it from 2001 before selling the cookie business to Ferrero in 2019 (run by Ferrara), while the crackers stayed with Kellogg/Kellanova. Keebler built a world, not just a cookie — proof that a brand story can outlast the business itself.

Keep Keebler’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.