America’s Most Unlikely Life Coach is I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’s New Mascot

By Heather Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, PopIcon

The face of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! may seem new to consumers, but few may realize just how long he’s been a fixture in refrigerators everywhere.

TUBZ, the brand’s buttery spread mascot, spent the ‘90s riding a high momentum wave in the zeitgeist. Back then, he resided at the front of the refrigerator and was BFFs with legendary brand icon Fabio Lanzoni. As the decades changed and diet fads trended, TUBZ was gradually pushed further into the back of the fridge. As TUBZ tells it, he could have stayed in the back of the fridge forever occupying the same space as baking soda. But just as I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! reformulated as a nutrient-dense spread, TUBZ determined it was time for a transformation.

Now, TUBZ is proudly at the front of the fridge again only this time he’s back as more than a mascot. He’s the author of “Lifting the Lid: The T.U.B.Z. Method for Unlocking Your Full Potential” and embracing the title of self-help guru for those looking to unlock their potential within.

It’s not every day you see a mascot become an author, so we were excited to chat with Gary Rizzo, Director of Marketing Excellence at Flora Food Group and Cassy White, who not only portrays TUBZ but is also credited with creating the character. The pair sat down with me to discuss why TUBZ needed to be a real character (not animated or cartoonish), the TUBZ lore, and how meeting consumers today requires going a step beyond simply updating products.

How did I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! decide it was time to have its own mascot?

Gary: TUBZ is our first original character built to live as an ongoing brand personality, not simply appear in a single campaign. We created him at a moment when I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! was entering a new chapter of its own. The product had changed from the inside out, so we imagined a character who had done the same. TUBZ gave us a funny, human way to tell a story about reinvention while building a personality and world that could keep evolving over time.

What went into determining TUBZ the mascot would be a person in a I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! costume? Did you entertain any other ideas, like an animated tub of butter?

Cassy: It was TUBZ or bust. We wanted a real, physical character who could interact awkwardly with coworkers, interview people on the street, perform onstage and exist in the same world as the audience.

An animated tub might have given us a visual asset, but having a person inside the character gave TUBZ spontaneity, comic imperfection, and the ability to build real relationships. From there, we developed his stream-of-consciousness voice and the recurring worlds where people could get to know him: the office, the stage, and his ongoing wellness journey.

Walk me through the TUBZ lore. How does a campaign featuring a mascot writing his own self-help book back in with how the brand hopes to connect with today’s consumers?

Gary: TUBZ had everything in the ’90s: the front of the fridge, a famous best friend in Fabio and a place in American culture. Then tastes changed, butter had a renaissance, and TUBZ found himself pushed behind the condiments.

We live in a culture that constantly tells people to reinvent themselves but then has an opinion the second they try. TUBZ took that tension personally. He looked honestly at what was inside, did the work, and wrote the book because he believes if a tub can change, anyone can. That journey mirrors the brand’s own transformation but tells it as a story people can enjoy rather than a lecture from a food brand.

Can you tell us a bit more about this book?

Cassy: The book introduces the four-step T.U.B.Z. Method for unlocking your full potential, based on TUBZ’s journey from forgotten fridge resident to aspiring life coach. It combines surprisingly practical advice with exercises that are unmistakably TUBZ, from setting a daily “Let It Go” alarm to confronting what is really inside your own tub. It also expands the office, performance and wellness worlds fans have seen in his social content.

TUBZ developed the book with writer Ian Alda, who helped shape the manuscript while preserving TUBZ’s very specific and occasionally unhinged voice.

A lot has changed since the 1990s, including various dieting fads, the rise of social media platforms, and even GLP-1s. With TUBZ as the new mascot, how is I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! leveling up to embrace the current landscape and meeting consumers where they are today? 

Gary: Meeting consumers today requires more than updating a product. It also means changing how a legacy brand shows up. We reformulated I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! to deliver enhanced culinary performance and key nutrients, but we did not want to explain that transformation through traditional advertising alone.

TUBZ gives us an entertainment-first personality who can participate in social culture, interact with people in real time and earn attention before delivering the product story. Fabio provides the bridge to the brand’s history, while TUBZ gives the next chapter its own voice.

What’s next for TUBZ, post self-help book? Book tour? Podcast guest? Commercials?

Cassy: TUBZ and Fabio celebrated the launch in New York City on September 23, meeting media, visiting editorial offices, and taking their reinvention story onto the NYC Ferry.

But the book is not the end of the story. TUBZ is building a broader career as America’s most unlikely life coach, so people should expect him to keep appearing in places where no one asked for advice but may receive it anyway. The ambition is to keep expanding his world through live appearances, social content and unexpected cultural moments. Because if a tub can reinvent itself, anyone can.

Image Credits: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

About the Author

Heather Taylor is the senior writer and editor-in-chief of PopIcon, Advertising Week’s blog about brand mascots. Got a pitch on brand mascots or want to wax nostalgic about characters? Drop her a line at howveryheather@gmail.com.