How Peppa Pig proved the power of the PR ‘exclusive’

Peppa Pig is locked in an epic publicity battle with Bluey and has come out swinging with a literal pregnancy announcement on daytime TV. Why now? Asks Lucy Mae Turner, creative at Ogilvy UK.

We all remember where we were when we first heard the news. Boiling an egg, brewing a tea, ignoring an email, and then, hearing Richard Arnold’s dulcet tones announce a very special guest.

That’s right, I’m talking about Mummy Pig’s pregnancy announcement - and that’s because literally everyone else is too.

Main character energy

Bravo to the publicity team behind Peppa Pig. By treating the news that there’d soon be an additional character on every parent’s least favourite TV show in the same way we might once have heard about the latest Kardashian to join the clan, they’ve managed to ensure fully-grown, childless adults up and down the country are on about nothing else.

It’s creative, sure, but it’s also a fairly well-trodden path, one that I wish more brands would explore.

Many of the most talked-about moments of the past few years have been borne from some ‘outside-the-box’ thinking on the placement of the exclusive.

It makes sense to go to the big hitters with your hot news - your Mails, Suns, Guardians, Vogues - but does it make even more sense to take it somewhere completely different?

When Jade Thirwall bared her post-Little Mix soul to niche culture title Polyester.

When Harry Styles launched his debut album, Harry’s House, with actual Home magazine, Better Homes and Garden. When (most brilliantly IMO) Derry Girls announced its final season on the cover of a revived Smash Hits Magazine.

All of these things would have got plenty of news, for sure - but with a bit of creative PR placement, the news became the news, the sell-in became the sell-in, the PR strategy became the story.

In a world where you can talk to anyone, about anything, at all hours of the day, can we create a bigger impact by honing in on a smaller, more tangible and perhaps unexpected yet entirely relevant audience?

So, what's next?

Cadbury’s latest chocolate bar announced via the Birmingham Mail, honouring its regional heritage? Butterkist releases NPD news via Empire, to give die-hard film fans first look? KFC CEO chats to Chicken Shop’s Amelia Dimoldenberg about the latest corporate quarter results?

I’d love to see it all—the big splashy PR announcement isn’t dead, it’s just splashing more strategically this time around.