Copycats are having a moment. But if everything can be copied, what makes a brand worth choosing?

Remember when buying a knockoff was something you didn’t want anyone to know about? The fake designer bag. The suspiciously familiar perfume. The drugstore version of that $80 face cream.

Well, plot twist. Now we’re bragging about it.

Welcome to the dupe economy, where imitation isn’t just accepted, it’s celebrated. TikTok has turned finding cheaper alternatives into a competitive sport. And consumers aren’t embarrassed about saving money. They’re proud of it.

But this isn’t just about price. It’s about the changing definition of value, consumer brand loyalty, and what makes a brand worth choosing.

You Can Copy a Product. You Can’t Copy What a Brand Means.

According to Circana’s 2026 research, 58% of shoppers have purchased a dupe, while 70% of beauty consumers would intentionally buy one even if they could afford the original.

Here’s the irony of dupe culture: it proves how powerful branding can be.

Nobody is rushing to duplicate the brand nobody knows. They’re borrowing the recognition and cultural currency someone else created. Ever heard of Chef Boyardee, Jolly Rancher, Dole or Dimetapp? We created the cultural currency for these brands.

A strong brand strategy gives consumers reasons to choose you beyond the product. A distinctive personality. A recognizable design language. A story worth caring about.
And distinctive packaging design matters more than ever. For beauty and CPG brands, packaging, advertising, innovation, and consumer experience need to work together to build an identity competitors can’t easily recreate.

A color can be copied. A bottle shape can be imitated. Genuine brand meaning is harder to replicate.

The Little Big Opportunity

Maybe the biggest threat isn’t the dupe. It’s complacency.
Are you still earning your premium, or simply charging one?
The opportunity is quite simple: stop competing on what can be copied and start investing in what can’t.