Behind the Awards | Choosing Inconvenience with Charlie Bigham's

Welcome to the Marketing Society podcast. I'm Siobhan Cook, Head of Awards at the Marketing Society. Today, we will delve behind the awards into one of our most celebrated categories, the Brand Communication category, in partnership with Binkbox. In 2025, the winner of this award was Charlie Biggins and BCCP. And today, we'll be hearing from Kim Gelling, Commercial and Marketing Director at Charlie Biggins, Max Keane, Chief Strategy Officer at BCCP, and Chris Dunn, Head of Marketing at Binkbox, about how Charlie Biggins chose inconvenience in the convenience category and went from niche to mainstream. The winner of this category is selected based on their proven strategic brand storytelling that created deep audience connections and drove measurable business impact. Enjoy. Well, the dust has settled on the Marketing Society Awards for 2025, and I am thrilled to be joined today by the award-winning team at Charlie Biggins and their creative agency, BCCP, to catch up and discuss their win in the Brand Communication category, how Charlie Biggins went from niche to mainstream. Now, it must be said, this is a very competitive category every year, and this is a really remarkable against the odd story that I know you're going to enjoy hearing about, how they chose inconvenience over convenience. Case in point, I was away at the weekend as a side note, and we had a lovely Airbnb with a big country kitchen that I wanted to use, but not too much. So, it was absolutely perfect that Charlie Biggins was top of mind, because we did a big shop, and it was a fish pie, a cottage pie, and a Xania each night. So, it was convenient, but just the right amount of inconvenience. So, you certainly got me as a long-term customer. So, welcome to Kim and Max. Before we get into this story, how about you tell us a bit about yourself, did your background, and then we'll get into this fantastic story. Hi, I'm Kim Gelling, Commercial and Marketing Director at Charlie Biggins. Thanks so much for the opportunity to come and chat through this story. It's always a treat to celebrate success and share things that have worked. Chris, lovely to meet you. I'm delighted to hear that you're a loyal Charlie Biggins fan now with a favourite fish pie dish. So, yeah, thank you for inviting us. Yes, the fish pie was the winner of the three, I do have to say. Okay, hi, Max. On to you. Thanks, Chris. Lovely to be here. I'm Max Keane, CSO at VCCP. I've been working with Biggins for a person for about three years, agency a bit longer than that. I backgrounded in brand strategy, started off, my first job actually was as a chef or was a kitchen porter washing dishes before spending a couple of years as a chef, before realised it was way too brutal in the hours and the money and the language. So, I traded all but the language for advertising. And so, yes, that's a bit about me, but delighted to be here. Sounds like a good trade. And have you pitched any new recipes yet to Charlie Biggins? That's the big question. I would expect to be slapped around the face with a fish by Kim. Would I ever do that? Well, don't really out, don't really out. Okay, let's get into it then. So, I wonder if Kim, we could come to you to set the scene a little bit. Perhaps not every listener is that familiar with Charlie Biggins. So, what are the origins of the brand, the company that you can tell us about, particularly the beginning of this journey? Of course, thank you. So, Charlie started his food business nearly 30 years ago now and he's kept true to his initial ambitious vision to make delicious food properly. He wants to delight customers with really tasty food that they haven't had to cook themselves. You know, Charlie was a hardworking management consultant, but really frustrated with the poor quality of meals available and really saw how he could bring his passion and flair for food and his experiences if he's travelling around the world in a yellow camper van with his now wife and bring all that sort of melting pot of flavours and passion into everybody's kitchen. And as you say, not having to do it himself. So, he started really small initially cooking meals in a sort of rented kitchen space and sort of focusing on that delicious food using high quality fresh ingredients, using traditional cooking methods just like you would at home. And, you know, that has stayed true throughout 30 years and, you know, he still preaches and reminds us about it every day today as well. Now, you know, you sit in the convenience category, but you're also quite different from a lot of other products and brands in that category. So, what is it that stands Charlie begins apart, you think? We really try to make ourselves extremely distinctive. I don't know whether some of your listeners might see in the headlines of Charlie saying, "We are not a ready meal. I don't make ready meals." So, despite showing up there in a supermarket setting and therefore, perhaps in consumers eyes, we have to work extremely hard to differentiate ourselves from that category and put ourselves in a delicious, pre-prepared food environment. So, that sort of philosophy that Charlie has at his core about doing things properly, it really goes through every area of the business. You know, we cook our food, as I said, in convenience, not factories. We don't use industrial processing to make what should be a very tasty, delicious food. So, our ingredients are really thoughtfully sourced, always fresh. Charlie has really long-standing, trusted relationships with loads of our suppliers. As I said, the process isn't about cutting corners. It's getting that really kind of inconsistent, consistent quality. So, it feels handmade in the way that it's made and enjoyed. Because Charlie believes that just because you want a night off cooking, you shouldn't be able to enjoy tasty food. You shouldn't have to turn to a flabby microwave meal or a greasy takeaway. That's a good philosophy. Well, it was obviously doing some really good work for you because there was growth you experienced in what I suppose you might describe as your heartland audience. But it looked like from the way this story goes that you hit something of a ceiling, there were some barriers to that growth. So, I wonder, could you tell us a bit more about that? We really had a challenge with awareness. So, we knew from our loyal shoppers that once people tried big 'ums, they were absolutely hooked. You know, our repeat rates and frequency are off the scale high, but we had this clear functional barrier that stood in our way that not enough people had heard of us. And remember, we're targeting people who don't buy traditional ready meals so they're not going to see us down the aisle in the supermarket. We've got to really stand up and get ourselves noticed to separate and stand ourselves apart. You know, we want to be the antithesis of that conventional ready meal. So, we've got to communicate those quality perceptions, why our price points a little bit higher and make sure that's getting through to a much wider audience than we were experiencing at the time, because that really was the barrier. We talked to people and they said, "I haven't heard of you. I haven't seen you. I don't know where you are." And there is that, you know, that desire for things done properly that I think you sit really well in. And I'm going to come to you now, Max, because there's certainly something that you saw at the beginning of this journey of this story where there was an increasing public demand for more authenticity and things done well as opposed to things done quickly and conveniently. So, what were you seeing there that made you think there was an opportunity here for growth? Do you know what? There's a couple of planners in the team who also work on the account. One's called Devin and he came into the office and had it railed against the eruption of high rise buildings in Nine Elms in South London and how quickly these sort of prefabred skyscrapers were going up and he said, "Look, these things come out of nowhere. They look exactly identical." And he's not regressive, but his point was like, "Where are the gargoyles? Where's the gothic wondrous architecture of old that takes time?" His point was there's this renaissance of craft that is taking place. You can see it in artisanal coffee, booze, craft gin, craft beer. People were willing to pay more for something that was made properly, that was authentic and really was the antithesis to sort of quick fix culture that seemed to be sort of prevalent. And so, I think we understood that you can see it in food culture. You can see also actually elsewhere there's a shift towards doing things properly, taking the time, respecting craft and that felt like a really, really sort of natural place to put the brand more explicitly. So then you're arriving at this area of the inconvenience of the product in this category of convenience, actually making that a virtue, making that a strength, seems like quite a big swing. What is it that made you think absolutely this is the right approach to drive that into that mainstream? At face value, it doesn't seem nuts because we are in the sort of convenient ready meal style. But as Kim said, Charlie's whole philosophy and the product itself is the antithesis to stuff that's ready in a flash. And so, that felt like it was really important to lean into and work out some sort of Judo flip that we could throw in the strategy. He likes to sort of, you know, zig when others zag. He's incredibly supportive of going against the convenience trend and seeing, and that's what we were seeing across in the landscape. So, that felt like a really sort of important point to put at the heart of the strategy and to deviate from what would have historically been, you know, to try and wear the body language of convenience. And, you know, when you look at the food, when you look, when you visit the kitchen, if you look at how the product is made, there are no shortcuts. There is nothing done for the sake of pure efficiency. Actually, I mean, Kim talks about this far more eloquently than me, but the way the food is crafted, the way that the effort that goes into making of the product, it's incredibly laborious and it's driven by that philosophy of doing things properly. And that felt like an absolute virtue that ran counter to the sort of convenience category and felt like it needed to put at the heart of the strategic sort of center. And Kim, how was that approach taken internally? Was there any convincing that needed doing or did it, did it feel right? As Max said, Charlie loves to challenge. You know, he says himself, he doesn't like being told what to do. That's why he's a successful entrepreneur. So, seeing that we were really not playing into category norms or, yeah, sort of doing things in a way that maybe people would expect or the sort of food landscape would expect you to show up, you know, he was, he was hugely energized by. So, yeah, I would say that he, his passion and belief sort of fuels this strategy and campaign rather than it being something that we needed to get through, I suppose. Yeah. So, so very much, you know, rather than choosing to focus on purchases of other convenience foods, ready meals, you took quite a conscious decision to focus on food is, as you say, those that probably don't even go down that aisle on the supermarket, so really have to seek you out. You know, were there any risks to that that you considered not going just for that broader convenience food shopper? I think, again, this was born out of the insight of who was buying and enjoying our brand already. You know, the data showed us that our biggest audience within our consumers with those who love good quality food, they would read the back of packs and understand the labels to make sure they knew what it was that they were eating. You know, they also spend money on good wine. You know, we know that they like to enjoy that dining experience. And like you said in your Airbnb, you know, they want their kitchen to be filled with the smells of a really tasty meal as you kind of anticipate that. It's not about convenience. So, again, this is where Biggins is so unique. We are, you know, founder and owner in Charlie. He wants to make sure that we're really going after people whose values and beliefs align with our own. So, we knew that there was a big headroom out there. I think the other great thing about this audience to mitigate the risk, as Max said, is that it's growing. We see more interest in provenance of meals, provenance of ingredients, prioritizing freshness, wanting food that has been sort of tastefully put together and crafted. So, obviously, there's always risk in terms of putting big media budgets behind things, but it felt right that we were talking in our language and our beliefs. It felt so true to what we're doing and hopefully reaching people that felt the same way. And we know that that audience is only growing. It's great to hear Charlie mention so much already. You know, he's obviously such a huge part of everything you do. And the campaign here, you know, Charlie is put front and centre into it. So, I'm really interested to know where that idea came from, either was it something that was brought to you or was it something that was in the brief? I think the funny thing is, and it wasn't a mandate given to the agency, I think there was a belief collectively that there's real power in an eponymous brand, right? And actually, some agencies might want to show up from that, but I think we actively lent into that and thought there's a real differentiate there, that this is a product that is made by hand by real people and a philosophy that Charlie preaches and practices. He is deeply involved in the business and it's not marketing veneer. This is not a confection that there's some chap who's doing something in some random place that's all a lie. Actually, that's really happening. And so, if you've got a core truth like that, that is like, you know, an earth wire into the brand, we thought, right, just that's what's going to make us distinctive. Let's get into that. He's a passionate founder. He's actually involved in the business. He curates the product. He sets the standard. And it went, you know, against the sort of running this anti corporate zeitgeist as well, to a certain extent, right? Like, this is a real sort of organisation directly from this person who is making his product. You could theoretically bump into him at Waitrose and tell him off if you've had a bad meal, not that ever happens. In fact, quite the opposite. I think Kim can talk about this, but at the office, there is a board with all the letters that people write into Charlie Bigham's about how much they love the food. That's really, that really happens. So again, from a creative standpoint, I felt like there's all this magic around someone who is real, who has created a bit of a movement, a bit of a fandom. And how do we put that into the heart of the work was something that we sort of actively did as a sort of joint agency client team, rather than it being a mandate. It's true. I love going store visiting with Charlie. You take him to Waitrose and you see shoppers sort of give him the double take. And he's always interested in what their favourite dish is and recommends another one. That's great. That's where you're going to find Max pitching his recipe idea, just stalking around Waitrose, waiting for that opportunity. But there are other things that are quite distinctive about the creative work as well. It seems like you consciously avoided that, you know, the tropes of slow mo food, you know, kind of that old M&S food style, and really did other things in the creative work to make sure it felt distinctive as Charlie Bigham's is distinctive in the aisle. So what are some of the choices that were made there? Yeah, it's a really good point because I mean, the food is really tasty. And so going into food porn would be an obvious thing to do. But it has kind of become the expected language of premium food. And what M&S did maybe two decades ago, at least 15 years, was incredible in pioneering. But I think you've hit the year of diminishing returns on that approach. And particularly if you want to be, you know, correctly recognised, distinctive, us following in that path was ultimately going to be deeply ineffective from a differentiation standpoint. But like I said, the food is delicious, it does look great, and we use that like sort of actively in a lot of our channels. But from a from an AV standpoint, we sort of thought that we're deliberately going to pursue something that tells the story sets out the store that communicates quality. But it's celebrated process over product, because there's this fetishisation of product that we could have fallen into. But actually, there's the creation and craft that goes into these products, which is much more aligned with the sort of cultural demand for authenticity that we've seen. So it was this sort of active decision to make that at the heart of the work and, and then push that into the sort of the visual style that, you know, brought that to life. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about Richard Osman as a voiceover. I'm a, you know, I'm a Thursday murder club, Stan, and House of Games regular. So what, what, where does that choice come from? And what was that top choice? There's two answers that are both true, Chris. The first answer is, strategically, he's incredibly concurrent because he represents like peak British trustworthy nurses. He's a cultural shorthand for quality. He's got wit, he's got authentic enthusiasm, he's like self deprecating. So does that side of the Venn diagram, which fortunately collaborates with another side of the Venn diagram, which is he also knows our creative director. Oh, I knew it had to be sort of with access there. But the strategic reasons were the primary ones that we decided to approach Richard. Well, it seemed to certainly do the job. And I want to touch on one other element of the creative, which is the animation style as well. Again, quite distinctive. And this idea that it was, you know, a much more kind of old school handmade animation that aligns with, you know, the essence of what you're trying to communicate. Yeah. I mean, the whole, the whole brand is rooted in real food. So the whole concept therefore had to bring that to life. And so through that lens of handmade, we delivered the packaging is so distinctive, it's hand hand sort of sketch drawings. So we took that into the above the line. Really, really important, you know, the illustrations in the TV are literally handmade crafted by the artist Emily Sutton. So she did a fantastic job at doing that. But I think the essence of that was we've got an incredibly distinctive look and feel. How do we bring that to life? But how do we do it in a way that's true to the philosophy of Charlie Biggins? Yeah, it's a lovely piece of work. So obviously, great creative work. Now it's time to put that in front of the right audience. So could you tell us a bit about the media plan and how, you know, when you're trying to reach this food, your audience, you want to maximize your reach and cut through to them. But obviously, you know, there can be perhaps a challenging audience to find. Firstly, a big shout out to Electric Glue, our media agency who put this plan together. I do think it's a little daunting sort of being at the beginning of that journey of going from, you know, we really had low levels of spend on advertising. We did some press partnerships, a little bit of podcast sponsorship and things like that to suddenly million pounds on a big nationwide campaign. And I think Electric Glue really supported and worked seamlessly with VCCP and Biggins to really create and give a lot of reassurance in the plan that we're building for a company that had never been on TV before. So firstly, it was really about blending together that scale that we needed without diluting the context. We really needed that high reach but in really relevant environments. So the TV was the backbone for that reach but in key regions so that we could really refine the targeting. And interestingly, making sure Electric Glue sort of pulled out how we had the presence across peak moments when our audience were planning their meals as well. So clearly, we didn't want to be too late in the evening or sort of, you know, kind of too early in the morning when people aren't necessarily thinking about food so making sure we had the right flow of spots through the day. But we didn't just want the scale from TV. We needed to make sure that the environments were chosen carefully so they'd resonate with that sort of foodie audience. So clearly, there were some sort of standout spots we had to be in as you know, sort of a chord to the foodie schedule like Jamie Oliver Fast and Simple, the Great British Bake Off, you know, obviously was a must. But then really, we expanded into adjacent genres as well. We knew our foodie audience were quite discerning. They sort of over index on those kind of relatively upmarket aspirational shows, so things like location, location, location and grand designs as well. So it meant that we weren't just kind of seen by millions but also kind of remembered by the audience who were kind of most likely to buy our premium brand. And as you say, it was the first time you'd kind of gone big in this way. So was there anything, you know, internally that you can share, you know, the reaction of people seeing the brand on TV or on a poster for the first time? It was amazing because working at Biggums, we've got a lot of our workforce who have been at Biggums for a long time. And they would say, I love the fact now, compared to when I first started working at Biggums several years ago, you'd tell people who you worked for, people would say, who? I've never heard of them. What do they do? And they were saying now, they've always felt proud of working for Charlie. But actually now it's wonderful that people know who we are. And you kind of get that sort of sense of pride mirrored back and other people are like, wow, yes. You know, hopefully lots of stories like you had of then you get into the favorite dishes they enjoyed, things like that. So, yeah, it really was well received internally as well. Yeah, it's just it's just too good to be a hidden gem. You know, it's time that more people knew that. So let's go into some results, what you perhaps share with us. You know, what were some of the brand results you saw and whether, you know, you saw some of that changing perception in how you were measuring what the campaign was doing. So obviously, first and foremost, this needed to be a recruitment driver. And the amazing figure is we recruited nearly a quarter of a million shoppers into the brand that would fill the O2 arena nearly 12 times over. I mean, I can't even get my head around thinking about all those meals going out into all those different homes and being enjoyed. So the shopper recruitment was a big tick in terms of sort of brand metrics and awareness grew by 10 points in the year. So a huge change in awareness from the campaign. Quality perceptions reached record levels as well as Max said, because the ad was so distinctive, the hand drawn artistry meant that we were really distinctive and also could sort of stand out in that plethora of food advertising. So we actually had double the average of brand attribution versus the benchmark. So that's sort of really testament to the strength of the approach. Add awareness really high dwarf the competitors, sort of nearly double the nearest competitor. And pleasingly, we sort of saw that kind of knock on metrics improve as well, like value for money. So that was a sort of nice outcome where you could see that consumers were then choosing and trying the meals and realizing actually, you know, this does represent great value for money, whereas if they're just in a price on shelf, then maybe shied away from it. Now, I know the lovely result to add to it, isn't it? That actually a premium product, you've communicated that value and it's underlined it. Yeah. Amazing. Well, now that this period is over, what do you see as the legacy for you? You know, how has it changed what you might be doing moving forward or subsequent campaigns you've got, you've got in mind? I think the, the legacy of the campaign is that we're still recruiting consumers who love discovering our food. So a result that we were really proud of was that recommendation rates reached a record high as well. So like we were saying, you know, the sort of risk with the audience, actually the fact that we are still recruiting consumers who go on to recommend the brand shows that we've still got consumers to go out after. We still see it through in brand metrics that awareness is one of our barriers. It really is about getting people to try our food in the first place and awareness is a big barrier of that. So I think more of the same is what we're talking to Max about and really making sure that we continue to set ourselves apart and stand up for what we believe in and be distinctive in what is ultimately a very cluttered category. Max, anything to add for you, the legacy of the campaign? Candidly, it feels like the brand is just, just stepping up again. And I think this was, you know, the first foray into a big national sort of communications and the results have proved that there's an appetite there. And I mean, that's a terrible pun. I'm so sorry. That wasn't intended. But you know, there is the era of, you know, British food being like slop and spam and ready-made and smashed is long gone. And I think, you know, Charlie Bickham's is primed to be at the forefront of pushing that food, real food movement out there. And so I think it's just given us real confidence that the brand is in a really strong position and just has every opportunity to continue on a rapid trajectory. Right. So we're going to wrap up here. We've got a lot of very key marketers listening right now eager to learn what lessons might you say they are to take away from this campaign, a couple of things that you would draw out that others could learn from. So I think what we really pulled out from the paper is this is probably very well worded by you. Max, please, please, please. Steal your words. But I think they're lovely. Compromise gets you compromised results. You know, we have such strong beliefs and philosophy at Charlie Bickham's. So being able to show those really clearly and stand up for what we believe in. And as Max said, sort of stay true to who we are as a brand and about the basics really working, you know, the illustrative nature of the pack and the name Charlie Bickham's showing that it's his beliefs that we work to and that he's still so involved. You know, he a man behind the name sort of conjures up the images of what we do rather than big industrially processed food. So I think it was lovely to work on a campaign that felt just right at core at the heart of the brand. And, you know, obviously, this was a big winner on the night of the marketing society awards. So how about you tell us what was it like to win and any advice for brands thinking of entering themselves? It's a brilliant set of awards. It's a super competitive. I mean, from a planning standpoint, it's one of the top three that we go after. I mean, my advice would be write a paper. It's not that helpful, is it? Is it cathartic just writing the paper, Max? Do you think? Yeah, there's something definitely in that. The debt is in the sort of like, you get caught up in the kind of here and now of what's going on and the day to day business pressures. And I think writing pay for awards entry papers really helps, as we said, to sort of distill down what actually worked. And I think as marketers today, when you have so many business challenges and problems and maybe sort of short term issues thrown your way, I do think that award entries also help to distill what really worked and to remind you of that going forward. And clearly, winning was absolutely the cherry on top of a nice size cake. But just doing the paper, working with VCCP, thank you, VCCP, for doing definitely the line share of it. But it was great to kind of see those proof points and the sort of success points built in to know that we can build from those. And obviously, what a delight to win. And yeah, what an honour to be up against wonderful campaigns in a fiercely competitive category. Well, if it hasn't been said enough, congratulations on your win to you, to your teams, to everyone involved. I don't know about you, but after all that chat, I'm actually starving. Well, let me give you a couple of recommendations. Oh, yeah, go on. I'm delighted how much you like our fish pie and lasagna. But we've just revamped Tuscan sausage rigatoni as well. So if you're a fan of pasta, give that a try. And Thai Penang. We've just reworked that recipe. So if you're listening to this on a Friday, we're recording on a Friday. I'm having that for my Friday night carry. So enjoy. I am writing that down. And any day of the week that it was all doing me nicely. Thank you very much to you both for joining us. This was Charlie Bigham's commercial and marketing director, Kim Gelling, VCCP's chief strategy officer, Max Keane, in conversation with ThinkBox's head of marketing, Chris Dunn. I hope you've enjoyed listening to this insightful conversation on Charlie Bigham's impressive story, which ultimately led to their well-deserved win at the Marketing Society Awards in 2025. The Marketing Society Awards were launched in 1985 as an extension of our mission, and they set the standard for marketing excellence in the UK. Our purpose is to help our members do well in their careers and lives, and do good in their businesses and the world. We aim to provide the places and spaces for noteworthy conversations and meaningful connections. So we're always on the lookout for the work, brands and agencies that can demonstrate the power of marketing excellence on their businesses, as well as sharing the stories that will inspire the next generation of marketeers and make our industry proud. Please don't hesitate to share on social and continue the conversation, and if you would like to find out more about our global annual awards, you can do so at www.marketingsociety.com/awards. Thank you.