Moonpig may have had a very successful IPO and is the market leader in the print on demand greeting card market, but it has been missing something and the clue is in its brand name – a pig mascot.
Having ditched its piggy livery a few years ago, Moonpig has brought back the bacon, launching a sizeable consumer advertising campaign which puts a new animated pig character centre stage and will make lots of noise (oinks) with the public.
“We have one of the most recognisable brand names in the UK with an iconic jingle, but somewhere along the way, we lost another key brand asset that’s unique to us – the pig. So we decided it was time to bring it back,” said Kristof Fahy, chief marketing officer of Moonpig.
The first wave of the ad campaign – which includes TV and radio slots as well as posters – kicked off on 1 April and will run until the end of the month, with more activity to follow reported sister title, PG Buzz.
The plan is for the Moonpigs to change their outfits to highlight the breadth of designs in the company’s greeting card portfolio. The inaugural treatment sees the pig donning a dinosaur, superhero and avocado costumes, as well as a good old party hat.
“These cute little characters will help us re-engage and bring the brand name to life again with something that’s uniquely Moonpig. I am looking forward to having a lot of fun with our ads over the next couple of years – watch this space for more Moonpigs to come,” added Kristof.
The team at Creature – which describes itself as ‘a gloriously independent advertising agency’ that is ‘fuelled by Intelligent Misbehaviour (breaking the rules, in the right way, for the right reasons) – which created the campaign have high hopes that the pigs will take on other major animal mascots to reign triumphant in consumer’s hearts.
“Just when you thought lockdown didn’t need any more pets, along come the Moonpigs, destined to spread the same kinds of joy and happiness in living rooms all over the land,” said Stu Outhwaite-Noel, chief creative officer of Creature. This is the kind of work I got into advertising for. The stuff my Grandma will tell her friends down the hairdressers. So, step aside Sergei, Churchill, Mr Compario there’s a new sheriff in town. Well, a whole litter of them.”
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