Pigby & Friends

NatWest’s Child-Designed Savings Campaign

Forgotten Adverts · 2013–2014

Archived on

Region

United Kingdom

Associated With

NatWest - First Saver campaign

Defining Feature

A child-designed pig mascot spanning a money box, animation and mobile game

Status

Discontinued - Pigby branding and game inactive; First Saver remains available

Overview

Pigby & Friends was NatWest’s UK savings campaign, built around a child-designed pink pig mascot.

It grew from the 2012 Pigs by Kids competition. In 2013, Pigby became a physical money box for new First Saver customers and fronted a six-character illustrated and animated cast.

Pigby’s Fair followed in 2014 as a free mobile game about running stalls, earning money and choosing whether to spend or save. The Pigby branding and game are now inactive, although NatWest still offers First Saver.

Why It Mattered

A child’s drawing became a money box, an animated character and a game built around spending and saving. That made Pigby a distinctive experiment in child-focused bank marketing: one character carried a savings theme across competition, animation and play. Yet The Guardian’s launch coverage reported that rival children’s accounts paid better interest, showing that the campaign’s creativity and the value of the account were separate questions.

Campaign and Release Timeline

  • A preserved copy of the Pigs by Kids terms dates the competition opening to 22 October 2012, with entries closing on 11 November and public voting scheduled through 9 December.
  • Pigby’s First Saver campaign launched in 2013 and was independently documented by 25 November, although its exact official launch day has not been established.
  • Pigby’s Fair was reported as available free through Apple’s App Store and Google Play on 12 February 2014, the earliest dated availability record located.

Characters and Production

  • Thirteen-year-old competition winner Kwamina Longdon created the drawing that became the basis for Pigby.
  • Aleksei Bitskoff expanded the idea with Aardman director Darren Dubicki into six characters: Pigby, Truffles, Buzz, Pigasso, Newton and Scamp.
  • Development work on Pigby’s Fair took place at Aardman’s Bristol studio, while campaign-film metadata identifies M&C Saatchi as the agency for the RBS/NatWest commission.

Game, Artefacts and Afterlife

  • Players ran fairground stalls, earned money, made spend-or-save choices and deposited savings to unlock new content; NatWest stated that the game had no in-app purchases.
  • Only Pigby is securely documented as a physical customer money box; the other five characters are established as members of the illustrated and animated cast.
  • No complete official version history, app-withdrawal date or formal campaign closure announcement has been located.
  • Creator portfolios, development screenshots, Aardman’s legacy project page and auction photographs preserve parts of the campaign and its physical money boxes.
Sources & Records

  • Introducing Pigby and Friends for NatWest

    Creator-representative account crediting Longdon, Aardman, Aleksei Bitskoff and Darren Dubicki and naming the six developed characters. It does not establish campaign effectiveness.

  • Come to the Pigby Fair

    NatWest press release dated 1 May 2014 describing the 2013 campaign, Pigby’s Fair mechanics and the absence of in-app purchases. Educational benefits are advertiser claims.

  • Pigby’s Fair — Developer Project Account

    Developer project account describing work at Aardman’s Bristol studio on persistence, tutorials, analytics, behaviour, mini-games and later feature content.

  • NatWest, Pigs by Kids Competition

    Campaign-production case study reporting the video approach and campaign figures. The entry, vote and viewing totals are case-study claims rather than independently audited results.

  • Pigby’s Fair — Official Aardman Project Page

    Official studio project record confirming Aardman’s interactive work for NatWest. Its accessible text is too sparse to establish detailed dates or closure history.

Gallery

Six illustrated pink pig characters on white, including a red-shirted pig, skateboarder, camera holder, footballer, sunglasses-wearing pig and bespectacled scientist.
Source
Credit

Character designs by Aleksei Bitskoff for Aardman Animations / RBS NatWest, reproduced by Arena Illustration, 2 November 2016.

Licence

Historical Ephemera

Displayed for commentary, criticism, research and historical documentation where permitted by applicable law. No permission for reuse is granted.

Caption

NatWest’s new savings pigs began with a child’s competition drawing. Aleksei Bitskoff helped develop that idea into Pigby and a cast of friends, giving the bank’s 2013 campaign its own personalities rather than simply bringing back the old porcelain family.