Ed Currie & Andy Coxon (AKT London) - West End Actors to 2M Units Sold, Then Winning Sephora
On this episode, AKT London co-founders Ed Currie and Andy Coxon join us to unpack:
- The backstage insult from a costar (“Ed, you effing stink”) that sent Ed down a three-year rabbit hole of homemade deodorant formulas, and why their kitchen ended up looking like a Breaking Bad set
- How a Kickstarter meant to fund their first real factory run hit its full £12,000 goal in a single day, simply by handing out samples to every West End performer on the day it went live
- The cease-and-desist letter that landed the exact day they bought 10,000 tins under their original brand name, and why they turned a trademark scare into a full rebrand
- Why “you’d never go on stage not knowing your lines” became Ed and Andy’s guiding philosophy for how they run the business
- How Ed and Andy used personal connections across the theatre world, instead of an ad budget, to get product into 42 Broadway shows, onto Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s touring dancers, to Cynthia Erivo on the set of Wicked, and the full cast of Saltburn
- The Kristin Cavallari moment on Architectural Digest that sent sales spiking, even though she wasn’t a paid partner
- Why everyone warned them “brands go to the US to die,” and the city-by-city strategy they used to prove them wrong
- The fragrance launch named after a Noel Coward play that their entire team tried to talk them out of releasing, and why it became one of AKT’s biggest moments
- Why AKT’s customer base ended up skewing 70/30 toward women, even though they always aimed for an even split
- What it feels like walking back into the same theatre world they used to audition in, now recognized as “the deodorant guys” instead of performers
Learn more about AKT London at aktlondon.com
