ke to minimise their exposure.  So first up, what is a dupe? A confession, I used AI to write this part. I duped myself. Ironic, isn’t it?  “In the beauty industry, a ‘dupe’ refers to a product that closely resembles a more expensive or high-end product in terms of appearance, functionality or ingredients, but is sold at a significantly lower price.” Admittedly, it’s not an evocative piece of writing, but it’s technically true.  From TikTok trend to mainstream behaviour Australia is home to one of the best duping brands on the market, MCo Beauty.  But duping is not isolated to one brand or niche product. A third of all makeup users use dupes, and this increases to nearly 50 per cent among Millennials and Gen Z.  In short, this is not some clandestine industry akin to an old-school Burberry knockoff – it’s a huge business largely conducted out in the open.  Why are brands worried? Change is scary, regardless of the industry you’re in, and so when something like this comes on so fast it’s natural to look at the negatives: Erosion in brand loyalty As consumers turn to more affordable alternatives, there is a fear that their attachment to the original products may weaken. Increasing price sensitivity As consumers become aware of lower-priced alternatives, they may become more resistant to paying premium prices. Removal of brand differentiation The prevalence of dupes challenges premium brands’ value propositions. Where have we seen the worst case happen? One brand that has felt all these pain points is The Quick Flick, an Aussie cosmetics brand known for its winged eyeliner stamp. It’s a clever product with logical benefits, but one that can now be bought cheaper and easier from a whole host of retailers.  Ultimately, if your brand or product is built on logic, it is replicable and can be taken down by logic – ease, price and performance. So how is duping even allowed to happen?  Whether a product can be sold as a dupe is often down to the industry’s lack of patenting. Patents require a product to be ‘novel, non-obvious, and useful’. It’s a high bar to meet, and one most beauty products don’t, so that leaves many formulas available for copying. So what can you do? Start by protecting what you can through trademarks. When setting up a brand and product, ensure you have identifiable assets and register them in all relevant codes. Whilst it won’t protect your formula, it will protect your brand’s image and enable you to authenticate it. It’s not perfect, but brands like Charlotte Tilbury and Tarte have been able to enforce it. Lessons from the third-most duped brand on earth Speaking of Charlotte Tilbury, it is the third-most duped brand in the beauty industry, particularly its flawless filter foundation and beauty wands.  This must be destroying the business, surely? Consumers know they can get the same stuff cheaper, so why would they keep spending with Charlotte Tilbury – it defies logic. Branding is not logical, however, and here’s proof. Once again, I asked my handy AI bot to analyse how Charlotte Tilbury has been performing recently:  Strong revenue growth: Total revenue was £310.30 million in 2022, up 38 per cent from £224.85 million in 2021. Profit increase: Pre-tax earnings hit £11.70 million in 2022, up 29 per cent from £9.06 million in 2021. Product success: New launches like the Beautiful Skin franchise have performed well, while established product lines such as Magic Cream, Airbrush Flawless Finish, and Pillow Talk continue to drive sales. Global expansion: The brand has been expanding its presence in key markets, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and Singapore. The beauty industry is thriving in the face of duping The global beauty industry was valued at US$532 billion in 2017 and by the end of this year, the sector is projected to reach US$670.8 billion. And in a twist perhaps nobody saw coming, data from NielsenIQ suggests that the brands most frequently duped are typically performing well, with an average of 54 per cent sales growth. When logic dictates that consumers will choose to spend less if they can get the same thing for a lower price, what explains this? Brands growing within the dupe culture aren’t competing in logic – but in emotion More than the sum of its products, Charlotte Tilbury and other oft-duped brands like Fenty and Dior, stand for a set of ideals. Whether it be old-world femininity and glamour or radical diversity and inclusion, they use their brand to create an ecosystem of intangible moments; from in-store, online, packaging, campaigns, and community engagement that all work together to tell consumers ‘you belong here’. At their core, brands fulfil a fundamental human desire for identity. They let us tell a story to the world about the person we want to be.  So what does all this mean for your brand? I toyed with asking AI to write this conclusion for me. It would’ve got the facts right, but like those other sections, it would’ve missed the bigger picture. That’s a good metaphor for what will ensure you thrive. If you play a logic game and compete on price, ease and performance, you will lose out to the first person who comes along and makes it cheaper. People can copy logic.  But, we aren’t in the game of logic, we are in the game of expression, joy, care and soul.  So firstly, protect what you can with trademarking. Build an external identity that is unique and defendable in all relevant codes.  Then, look inside, go deeper into what you stand for, the ideals you hold close, and the experience you weave for your community – don’t make your customers like your product, make them love your brand.  Maybe they’ll dabble in other, cheaper options, especially when shopping for an item that has never been featured in their make-up bag before. But they’ll come back. True love, after all, lasts a lifetime.