Thank you! Your submission has been received. We will get in touch with you soon.
Back to site
.png)
Analyze the challenges of protecting a production across IP, digital security, and markets, featuring data, examples, and key strategies for comprehensive coverage.
In recent months, few phenomena have shaken the entertainment and global marketing industries like the release of The Devil Wears Prada 2. During its opening weekend alone, the sequel grossed an astonishing $233 million worldwide, including $77 million in the United States, surpassing the original film's initial box office by nearly four times. What began as a nod to nostalgia has become a true case study for leaders in creative projects, editorial productions, and brand strategies. The return of iconic names like Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway has reinforced the premise that, in a market saturated with options, stories with a strong identity and intelligent asset management make a difference both at the box office and in cultural conversations.
But behind this display of figures and global attention lies an operational challenge that remains relevant for any high-profile production: ensuring that all brand assets, agreements, and channels are protected against potential risks of exploitation, copying, and digital abuse. If commercial success and aspirational positioning are the goals, industrial and intellectual property protection is the foundation that supports everything else. Today, audiovisual, editorial, advertising, and entertainment productions operate in an environment of total exposure.
Every release activates campaigns, licensing agreements, digital assets, distribution platforms, marketplaces, social networks, and extensive supply chains. This expands commercial reach but also multiplies risk points. The problem is no longer just protecting a logo or preventing a copy. The real challenge lies in coordinating the protection of all relevant areas of brand protection before, during, and after the market launch.
For brand protection leaders, this means viewing brand protection as an operating system rather than an isolated task for the legal department. If a production does not protect its intellectual property, secure its digital channels, and adapt its strategy to each market, it leaves gaps that third parties can quickly exploit. In practice, these gaps turn into counterfeits, domain fraud, unauthorized merchandising, fake profiles, content leaks, and loss of reputational control.
In this article, you'll see why this challenge has become more complex, which areas are often left uncovered, and how you can approach more comprehensive protection with operational and measurable criteria.
When you think of a production, it's easy to focus on the main work: a movie, a series, a campaign, an editorial release, or a brand collaboration. But from a brand protection perspective, the central asset is only part of the map.
Around that production, many elements also need protection:
This means the risk perimeter is much broader than the initial plan often reflects. In high-exposure sectors, the cost of not seeing this full perimeter can be significant. According to the OECD and EUIPO, the trade of counterfeit and pirated goods represents about 2.3% of global trade, with an estimated value of $467 billion. This figure not only describes a traditional industrial problem but also explains why any cultural or commercial asset with traction can be exploited almost immediately.
Intellectual property remains the foundation of brand protection, but many productions approach it in a fragmented way. They register a main trademark, sign assignment contracts, and consider the problem solved. The risk arises when the actual exploitation of the content moves faster than the legal and operational coverage.
In many cases, productions fail to protect in time:
This creates a clear tension. The brand becomes visible and valuable just as its legal architecture is still incomplete. By then, third parties can already register similar domains, launch opportunistic products, or exploit contractual gaps.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has highlighted for years that intangible assets represent a growing portion of business value. In some companies, more than 80% of market value depends on intangibles like brand, content, reputation, and technology. This means that if your production does not adequately protect these assets, you not only lose legal control but also compromise financial value and monetization potential.
From an operational perspective, you need to:
In other words, registration is not enough. You need to turn intellectual property into a living structure of control.
For years, many companies separated cybersecurity from brand protection. Today, that division no longer works. A production can suffer significant damage without any physical counterfeiting. All it takes is a fraudulent domain, a fake social media account, a malicious link with copied visual identity, or a leak of exclusive material.
This is especially relevant in media campaigns and high-profile launches, where public interest creates the perfect context for abuse.
Phishing and brand spoofing continue to grow because they work. Various industry estimates indicate that over 80% of security incidents with a social component involve some form of social engineering supported by recognizable brands. For you, this means that the name of a production, a premiere, or a campaign can become the perfect hook to capture data, distribute malware, or divert payments.
A common case is fake pages imitating official promotions, giveaways, pre-sales, or exclusive content access. Another is the use of typo or lookalike domains to deceive both consumers and distributors.
Productions are also vulnerable before hitting the market. Scripts, artwork, trailers, press materials, and licensing assets circulate among internal and external teams. The more providers involved, the greater the exposure surface.
IBM's recent reports estimate that the global average cost of a data breach exceeds $4 million. Not all leaks in productions reach that level, but the figure helps illustrate something important: a breach doesn’t just affect systems. It impacts timelines, negotiations, exclusivity, reputation, and the expected return on the launch.
To address this area seriously, you need to align brand protection with security controls such as:
This means protecting a production is no longer just a legal enforcement task. It’s also a matter of digital visibility and early response.
A well-received production can expand within days to channels not included in the original plan. Posters, clothing, accessories, fake tickets, collectibles, digital bundles, and promotional items appear on global and local marketplaces. The speed of the channel often outpaces internal reaction times.
Here arises one of the most common problems for you as an operational leader: too many alerts, little prioritization, and insufficient coordination between legal, marketing, eCommerce, and compliance.
Platforms like Amazon, Mercado Libre, eBay, AliExpress, TikTok Shop, and other hybrid environments facilitate the rapid entry of sellers and products. In many cases, an infringement can replicate across dozens of listings within hours. Without a detection and prioritization system, the volume ends up normalizing abuse.
This is significant. The EUIPO has documented that intellectual property infringements have a direct impact on legitimate sales and employment across multiple industries. Meanwhile, the growth of social commerce adds another layer of complexity, as promotion and sales occur in the same environment and at high speed.
Not all markets present the same risk or respond equally to the same measures. What works on a U.S. platform may not be effective in Latin America, Asia, or Europe. Productions operating on an international scale need to adapt their brand protection to:
From a strategic perspective, this means you cannot protect all markets with the same playbook. You need a global approach but with local execution.
Productions often rely on an extensive network of actors: studios, distributors, creative agencies, licensees, platforms, retailers, PR teams, tech partners, and external firms. Each actor handles part of the brand asset, but there isn’t always clear central governance.
This gap has a high operational cost:
In practice, effectively protecting a production requires a decision-making structure. Someone must define which infringements matter most, which require immediate action, and how results are measured.
Complete protection isn’t achieved with more isolated actions. It’s achieved with an integrated model. If you want to cover all relevant areas, you need to combine intelligence, prioritization, and coordination.
The biggest challenge for productions isn’t just facing more threats. It’s understanding that the brand now lives in a much broader ecosystem than the original work or campaign. Intellectual property, digital security, and market adaptation are part of the same problem. If one of these areas is left out, protection ceases to be comprehensive.
For you, the conclusion is clear: covering all relevant areas of brand protection requires anticipation, structure, and continuous visibility. It’s not enough to react when an infringement appears. You need to design a model that connects assets, channels, jurisdictions, and teams under a single operational logic.
This shift in approach makes the difference between containing isolated incidents and truly protecting the value of a production. If you want to organize that map and understand where your real coverage gaps are, Smart Protection can help you analyze the problem with a more structured and actionable vision.
Talk to a Brand Protection Expert HERE.
.png)
