Rory Sutherland (pictured) has praised Charlie Bigham for its marketing (Image: John Myers)
Marketing guru Rory Sutherland has shed light on what separates food favourite Charlie Bigham’s fresh ready meals from its competitors.
The appeal of Charlie Bigham’s , lauded for their convenience combined with a dining-out quality, is attributed in part to their picturesque packaging. Acknowledged as being pricier than competitors, range features freshly prepared ingredients that make up a selection including Thai Green Curry, Beef Ragu, and its iconic Fish Pie.
Vice-Chair of marketing agency Ogilvy, Rory Sutherland, who often appears on various podcasts and delivers TED Talks on nuanced marketing strategies, highlighted Bigham’s superior ‘culinary experiences’ over its competition.
During an interview with Simon Squibb and his YouTube audience that extends over 1.5 million, the advertising virtuoso hailed Charlie Bigham’s method of creating a distinctive ‘culinary experience’, opposed to other ready meal options.
:
“All of those Charlie Bigham dishes, this is what I call the ‘IKEA Effect’, it says you have to put them in the oven to cook them. Now, I think that’s because you enjoy the food more when you’ve waited for it and the effort you’ve put into it basically creates a culinary experience the microwave doesn’t.” Sutherland praised the brand’s unique approach, saying: “The other genius thing he did is that style of bamboo packaging stuff – the weird wooden packaging which fundamentally creates a kind of craft manufactured vibe rather than a factory-made vibe. All of those things, we perceive without being conscious of doing so.”
Charlie Bigham’s website sheds light on their choice of packaging, stating: “Given the care we put into our food, boxing it in plastic just doesn’t feel right. That’s why, 15 years ago, we introduced wooden trays.”
Charlie Bigham has been on supermarket shelves since 1997 (Image: Charlie Bigham)
The site details the journey to find the perfect tray: “Having found a French family business making cheese boxes from PEFC-certified poplar, we tested the wood to check it was food-safe and oven-friendly. And when we finally found a glue that wouldn’t melt, everything fell into place. The trays took time to perfect, but we’re proud of them.”
Many fans may not know that Charlie Bigham is actually a real person who, in 1994, ditched his corporate life for travel, returning with a trove of culinary ideas. By 1996, he was supplying his dishes to local shops in London, and by 1997, supermarkets were stocking them.
Today, Charlie and his team are still based in London.