Contagious London’s Charlie Bigham campaign shows the way for smaller brands

Charlie Bigham’s posh convenience food has muscled its way into some of the big supermarket chains – actually bought its place on the shelves at vast expense probably – but, like all such brands, will find the competition never goes away as other companies try to do the same.

What most such brands don’t do is try to reach consumers directly; create a channel that’s not at the supermarkets’ mercy.

Well Charlie – yes, there is one – thinks differently and a while back appointed Paul Weiland’s Contagious London to handle TV work.

Make a product, secure distribution and advertise on the telly – how radical is that? Didn’t seem to hurt the likes of Unilever back in the day.

Using an economical thirty seconds with some charming, old-style animation and a filmed food shot. Some creatives would rant and rave about the disruptive food segment but it’s sensible enough to show what Charlie’s fish pie actually looks like. And there’s a cheeky animated close.

Advertising by numbers? Maybe, but none the worse for that.

Contagious knows its business.

MAA creative scale: 7