How a plot twist helped Peppa Pig go viral
Announcing a major plot development in the beloved children’s show, franchise owner Hasbro discovered a new way to achieve fame and engagement.
Peppa Pig has been a firm favourite with young children for more than 20 years, yet research showed the TV show was losing relevance among modern millennial parents.
Owner of the Peppa Pig franchise Hasbro saw an opportunity to refresh brand love and resonance by introducing a new character to shake up the family dynamic at the heart of the show.
In 2025, Hasbro was ready to announce the plot twist: Mummy Pig was pregnant again and Peppa would soon have a new baby sister. The aim was to turn this development into global news, creating a media moment that would cut through with parents and kids alike.
Working with PR agency PrettyGreen, Hasbro hit upon the idea of creating Mummy Pig’s first-ever televised interview. Research found 56% of pre-school parents watched ITV in the past year, making flagship show Good Morning Britain (GMB) the perfect fit for a crossover “blurring” fiction and reality.
The stunt involved a primetime ‘live’ TV interview on GMB, where Mummy Pig dialled in to reveal she was expecting a third piglet.
Hasbro collaborated with the broadcast team to script, animate and produce the exclusive segment, positioned to air before the school run. The stunt was further supported by placing related spoof stories and news articles within the media.
The campaign drove engagement and cultural relevance for Peppa Pig, including an 88% surge in UK Google searches and 57 million views of Good Morning Britain’s TikTok content in a single week.
In addition, the campaign generated more than 800 pieces of coverage across all major media outlets, notching up 127 million TikTok video views for #PeppaPig content, helping Hasbro win the 2025 Marketing Week Award for Best Use of PR.
