Laurence Newman will never forget the phone call that changed his life.
Together with co-founder Andrew Showman, he launched the eCommerce beauty business CurrentBody in 2009 and has grown it into a 拢86m turnover business.
The quality of their products has been at the heart of their success but appearing in series three of the smash Netflix series Emily in Paris, starring Lily Collins, took the company to a whole new level.
鈥淚 got a phone call from somebody who was at the launch of Emily in Paris in Paris who said 鈥榦h my God, Emily is standing with your LED mask on in the opening scene of series three,鈥� recalled Newman.
鈥淧eople thought we paid (for it) but we didn鈥檛. You couldn鈥檛 put a price on that brand positioning. It didn鈥檛 cost a penny.鈥�
Make-up artists had been using the CurrentBody鈥檚 LED masks on the set of Emily in Paris but Newman said its appearance on the show was a complete shock.
The media explosion was instant. The headline in Grazia magazine was emphatic: 鈥楾he mask from Emily in Paris that everyone is talking about.鈥�
However the roots of CurrentBody鈥檚 success run deeper than a fleeting appearance at the start of a Netflix show.
Earlier this year CurrentBody won the Judges鈥� Award for International Success at the Northern Tech Awards before walking away with the big prize 鈥� the Overall Judges鈥� Award.
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Recalling the company鈥檚 launch in 2009, Newman said: 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 trying to fix a problem per se but my background was in professional devices and I also owned my own clinics.
鈥淚 thought at the time that the types of technology used in clinics in medical settings would eventually be miniaturized for use safely and effectively at home.
鈥淭here weren鈥檛 any products of that type in 2009. As we鈥檝e聽 seen over the last four or five years it鈥檚 become the fastest growing part or category of beauty.
鈥淐urrentBody is the global leader in home use beauty devices. They are the miniaturized version of the technology you would typically have if you went to a beauty salon or clinic.鈥�
Laurence Newman, CurrentBody
The company鈥檚 typical customers will spend more than 拢200, with around 70 per cent of their business now coming from overseas.
鈥淭he eCommerce aspect hasn鈥檛 changed,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about driving traffic and increasing conversion. I don鈥檛 suppose that ever changes but what does change is the channels and how people find the product.
鈥淭he one thing we鈥檝e done well, and been consistent with over the years, is to develop a level of PR, what I鈥檇 call 鈥榯op of the funnel marketing鈥� which is driving traffic for products that people didn鈥檛 know they wanted in the first place.
鈥淏rand comes second. The first job is product and finding something that people actually want and making sure that it鈥檚 a brand that people want to aspire to buy.鈥�
In 2021 CurrentBody sold a stake in the business to eCommerce investor eComplete for 拢50m.
was founded a year earlier by former THG execs Paul Gedman and Andy Duckworth and Newman was speaking at eComplete鈥檚 recent eCommerce meet-up at KPMG鈥檚 Manchester offices.
Newman said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e raised money three times now for CurrentBody and there鈥檚 always been different suitors for different periods of the company鈥檚 growth. eComplete was right at that particular time.
鈥淲hat eComplete did is bring an entrepreneurial side to private equity where they understood about beauty and the importance of our average order value and being profitable from order one.
鈥淭hey backed management which I think is one of the most important traits of private equity.鈥�
The entrepreneur said the other significant development for CurrentBody was the decision to start making their own products in 2018.
鈥淚t was working with third party brands that made us realise how important it was to have our own brand,鈥� he said.
鈥淵ou then have control over everything that you鈥檙e doing. Margin increased significantly and made the company far more valuable because there鈥檚 a brand that we built.鈥�
Newman identified several core strands to CurrentBody鈥檚 success.
鈥淚 talk to my staff and it always starts with product, then finding the right channel to sell it and understanding the customer and who鈥檚 going to buy it,鈥� he said.鈥� As long as you stick to quite simple principles then I don鈥檛 think you can go too far wrong.鈥�
And of course 鈥� being featured in a Netflix blockbuster doesn鈥檛 do any harm either.