表情包、段子、带货王 简直太社会了Peppa Pig Mania: Lessons for domestic animators

A British cartoon character has become a new cultural icon in China. The hype over Peppa Pig is huge on almost every digital media platform, including Aiqiyi, Tencent and Youku, China's leading video streaming providers.

Why is it so successful? And what can be learned from the Chinese animation industry?

At this gift shop of the ongoing Hangzhou cartoon and animation festival, people of all ages are raving over this pink, young pig. Some of the popular items included Peppa Pig toys, vacuum cups, lunch boxes and wallets, just to name a few. 

Lin Yichen, an elementary school student, says “I watch Peppa pig cartoon series with my brother. We started watching it together this year."

Another Peppa Pig fan Jiao Lu says: “It’s got funny eyes. I like that it does the muddy puddle jump.  I have a Peppa pig tattoo on my arm.”

Olivier Dumont (R) is the managing director of Entertainment One (eOne) Family, the company behind Peppa Pig.

On the internet, the Peppa pig buzz is even bigger. Countless memes, jokes, and videos have gone viral. People dub it in different dialects.  

Many have coined slang phrases. It’s a trendy thing to show off your Peppa Pig merchandise.

According to Olivier Dumont, the managing director of Entertainment One (eOne) Family, the company behind Peppa Pig, such mania has most to do with the success of the show. 

“It’s a show about a family unit. When you look at kids preschool shows on TV,  there aren’t that many about the family unit. So it’s a world which mirrors the world of preschool kids, same in China. The color is very bright and appealing to young children. There is a lot of humor in it. Kids find it funny, but there is also a lot of humor for the adults.”

Olivier also mentioned that since Peppa pig is an animal, “you are not facing the kids looking western issue, which works well for China.” 

The show was aired on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV and three main digital platforms, Aiqiyi, Youku and Tencent in 2015. 

The popularity of the show just grew very gradually based on its strong storytelling, which Olivier says it “resonates with Chinese kids in the same way it resonates with kids across the world.”

On that note, industry insider Trevor Lai says that a successful cartoon character needs to appeal to not only kids but also their gatekeepers, in order for the character’s habits and quotes to become pop culture.

He says the main lesson for Chinese animators is to dig into character design, as opposed to replicating the outside appearance of previous works.

Peppa Pig tattoo stickers are also gradually becoming a trend among kids.

The ceo and creative director of UP Studios said “(domestic animators should) really looking at the essence, the inside of the character - their motivation, personality, their background, where they grew up, how they grew up, what are some of the experiences that define them as a character. Why did they talk in this way? These are some of the things that you can’t see, but that is just important or even more valuable than what’s on the outside."

Trevor says it usually takes years to build and refine a cartoon character.  But once it catches an audience’s attention, it will likely become the next phenomenon, just like Peppa Pig.

As of right now, the company, eOne is co-developing a series with a Chinese company, hoping to take Chinese IPs and stories to the rest of the world.