I think there's two issues here.
Like photography, I find that mountain biking feeds both the tech part of my brain and the soulful bit too. When I'm buying a bike I'm looking at machined bits, geometry, disc brake mounts, and then thinking 'that's rather cool.' As a purchaser you buy into that image, be it Charge, Cotic, Bontrager or Yeti. You can't help but think "I'm buying a Lapierre, I'm being different!"
I can't say that I've ever seen a Charge that excites my tech brain like a Ragley or proper Klein does. They're good, don't get me wrong, but they lack that shock and awe. I then see a brown leather saddle, or the cohesive design across all their parts, and it becomes desirable. I like the image, I just can't get enthused about the design.
The fact that Charge makes hipster bikes, or parts in varied colorways, makes no more difference to me than Specialized making the Langster when I'm considering a Pitch.
What Nick/Charge do *very* well is creating bicycles and parts which fit an overall image and sell well to the public. Charge as a brand, and as a range, could sit very easily in big department stores where others couldn't. If that means that 'geeks' don't see them as a proper bike brand, is that a bad thing? How many of us have had friends and colleagues say "I'm thinking of buying a bike, what would you recommend?"
For me, though, bikes for riding. Then image. In that order.