Swimming into Success: How British Swim School and Peppa Pig’s Collaboration Enhanced Brand Visibility and Engaged Young Swimmers

By Julia Moody, Director of Marketing, British Swim School

In the world of franchise marketing, forming authentic partnerships is essential for enhancing brand visibility and creating lasting connections with audiences. This summer British Swim School, the nation’s leading franchise learn to swim provider, partnered with Peppa Pig, an internationally beloved children’s character, to capture the attention of young swimmers and their families. This collaboration showcased the power of strategic alliances in driving brand awareness and delivering meaningful, family-friendly engagement.

The inspiration for the collaboration between British Swim School and Peppa Pig emerged from recognizing a shared commitment to teaching children. With Peppa Pig’s universal appeal, British Swim School saw an opportunity to introduce both water safety and the brand to a wide breadth of new families. The partnership aimed to create memorable experiences for children while increasing the brand’s visibility and credibility within local communities.

The collaboration came to life through a series of creative initiatives and campaigns that delighted young swimmers and their families. British Swim School focused on integrating Peppa Pig into key initiatives, ensuring that the partnership was an authentic extension of both brands' values.

Sweepstakes:

To build initial excitement around the collaboration, British Swim School launched a sweepstakes offering a grand prize that included a trip to the Peppa Pig theme park in Winter Haven, FL, along with prize packs and three months of swim lessons. The promotion attracted over 13,000 families across the US and Canada, driving significant engagement on digital platforms. Along with the grand prize, five runner-up prizes were awarded, creating additional touchpoints for brand interaction. Winners were selected through a random draw and notified with personalized communication, enhancing the overall experience.

Peppa Pig Safety Week:

A highlight of the partnership was integrating Peppa Pig into British Swim School’s “Survival Week,” a week-long event held multiple times a year to emphasize the importance of survival-based swim lessons. During Survival Week, British Swim School swimmers participate in their regular swim lessons, but with their clothes on! It’s critical to teach the littlest swimmers how different the water can feel with the weight of their regular clothes, as opposed to their swimsuits. The majority of water accidents occur while children aren’t dressed to swim, and there’s a distinct difference in the weight and feeling of regular clothes in the water. While an extremely serious topic, Survival Week is a fun approach to teaching children these important water safety skills. During the rebranded “Peppa Pig Safety Week”, swim schools transformed their pool decks with British Swim School x Peppa Pig collateral, Peppa Pig decorations, and fun photo opportunities for the kids, creating a vibrant and engaging environment where children could learn vital water safety skills with their favorite character. This initiative made water safety education even more engaging and effective for young learners.

Activity Packs:
Knowing the importance of local marketing opportunities for their franchisees, British Swim School developed age-appropriate activity packs featuring Peppa Pig. These packs were distributed at preschools, community events, and through various local marketing efforts, providing valuable resources to families while reinforcing the brand’s commitment to child safety and education.

Social Media Content:
Social media played a critical role in promoting the collaboration. British Swim School used Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to share content featuring Peppa Pig, including videos, images, and interactive posts. Hashtags such as #PeppaSplashAdventure, #BSSxPeppaCollab and #SwimWithPeppa generated buzz and encouraged user-generated content, amplifying the campaign’s reach.

Even with elements of the collaboration still ongoing, the partnership between British Swim School and Peppa Pig has had a significant impact on brand visibility and engagement with young swimmers. The partnership led to a noticeable increase in brand awareness, as evident from the over 1.2 million impressions from various advertising opportunities, over 20% increase in social media followers and over 13,000 sweepstakes entries.  

Parents and children responded positively to all elements of the collaboration, especially Peppa Pig Safety Week, with many sharing their positive experiences on social media. The initiative’s creative approach to water safety education resonated with families, leading to increased engagement rates on digital platforms.

Similarly, franchisees reported positive impacts on their businesses, noting increased interest from families and successful local marketing opportunities tied to the Peppa Pig-themed collateral, providing strong credibility when introducing the brand to prospective parents and partners for the first time.

The British Swim School and Peppa Pig collaboration offers valuable insights for future partnerships. The success of this collaboration was rooted in the seamless integration of Peppa Pig into British Swim School’s core mission. By maintaining authenticity, the partnership created a meaningful connection with the target audience, effectively incorporating British Swim School into the Peppa Pig universe.

The collaboration wasn’t just a marketing tactic but a meaningful extension of both brands’ values, helping build trust with customers and effectively introducing a new audience of young children to crucial water safety information. By staying true to their mission and creatively integrating Peppa Pig into their programs, British Swim School created a memorable experience that resonated with children and parents alike. As other franchises seek to enhance their brand and connect with target audiences, they can draw inspiration from this successful collaboration and explore similar partnerships that align with their values and objectives.