Counterfeit Consumer Goods: How to Protect Your Brand

Should your brand’s anti-counterfeit features be visible to reassure consumers, or hidden to outsmart counterfeiters? As counterfeit consumer goods surge globally, see how you can find the right balance between overt and covert protection for lasting brand security.

Counterfeit consumer goods are no longer confined to luxury handbags or fake watches. They infiltrate every industry, from spirits and cosmetics to pharmaceuticals and electronics. The fakes damage trust, create legal risk, and even risk consumer safety.

But what type of brand protection feature should you choose? Visible features like holograms or branded QR codes help reassure consumers. Hidden ones, such as invisible taggants or digital watermarks like Cryptoglyph, quietly expose fakes where it matters most.

The answer: Strongest brand defense doesn’t rely on one or the other; instead, it combines both. In this article, learn how you can take a multi-layered protection strategy to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters.

Why Counterfeiters Are Always One Step Behind (and Sometimes Ahead)

Counterfeiters are fast learners. As soon as you introduce a new visible security element, the bad actors find ways to imitate it. They can replicate your product packaging, mimic holograms, and even clone QR codes.

And here lies the brand protection paradox: While visible features are easy to copy, they help consumers feel confident. According to a 2022 Brand Integrity Insights survey by Censuswide, 40% of consumers said they believe QR codes have strong potential to validate a product’s authenticity.

Once counterfeiters understand what to look for, they try to imitate or bypass it. The more predictable a protection feature is, the easier it becomes to reproduce. That’s why relying on a single, visible element is risky. Effective brand protection needs to evolve constantly. You need a resilient, multi-layered strategy that combines visible and invisible security features for protecting authenticity.

The Visibility Dilemma: Should You Reveal Your Brand Protection?

Choosing whether to reveal or conceal your security features is a strategic business decision in brand protection. Each approach plays a different role in building trust and preventing counterfeiting. Understanding both is the first step toward finding the right balance.

Visible (Overt) Features

Overt security features are visible elements added to packaging to help consumers quickly identify authentic items. They serve as confidence boosters and are often part of the brand’s design.

Common examples: Holograms, color-shifting inks, tamper seals.

Visible security features help:

• Consumers verify authenticity at a glance.
• Create brand quality and trust through visible assurance.
• Support marketing and transparency by showing the brand’s commitment to protection.

On the other hand, the drawbacks of visible features are that:

• Counterfeiters can easily study and copy them using modern printing or digital tools.
• They lose effectiveness once copied or poorly implemented.
• They might create a false sense of security if not supported by deeper, covert layers.

Hidden (Covert) Features

Covert features are security features invisible to the naked eye. They are built into the packaging or product in ways that counterfeiters cannot detect or reproduce. Only trained inspectors or digital tools can verify them.

Common examples: Taggants, invisible codes, Cryptoglyph, AlpVision Fingerprint.

The benefits of using covert features are that they are:

• Extremely difficult for counterfeiters to find, copy, or remove.
• Strong forensic or digital proof of authenticity.
• Verified instantly by experts or through dedicated mobile apps.

The drawbacks are that they are:

• Not visible to consumers, so they do not contribute directly to buyer reassurance.

The bottom line: Revealed features build trust, while covert ones deliver real security. The best protection comes from combining both in a coordinated, multi-layered system that supports consumer confidence and outsmarts counterfeiters.

The Multi-Layered Security Approach: Lessons from Banknotes

Banknotes show the perfect balance of how visible and hidden features can work together to create powerful protection. They include three-fold protection:

• Visible elements like holograms and color-shifting inks allow anyone to check authenticity instantly. These are designed for public verification and consumer confidence.
• Semi-covert features like UV or infrared (IR) patterns require simple tools for verification and add another layer of complexity.
• Covert or forensic features like taggants and digital code stay hidden from the public and are accessible only to experts or digital systems.

According to the U.S. Secret Service’s 2020 annual report, they seized over $500 million in counterfeit currency. Since then, that number has dropped steadily, largely thanks to ongoing updates in U.S. banknote design that make counterfeiting more difficult.

The same logic applies to product packaging. A visible mark helps reassure consumers, while covert elements detect and confirm authenticity behind the scenes, making enforcement by brand inspectors and legal teams more effective.

Combining Visible and Covert Features for Maximum Protection

True brand protection comes from combining what consumers can see with what counterfeiters can’t. Visible and covert features serve different purposes, but together they create a complete, reliable defense.

A practical and effective use case is the secured QR code: a combination of a visible authentication mark (such as a branded QR code or hologram) paired with a covert security feature. Invisible micro-marks are embedded in the black bits of the QR code to secure them. This means:

• QR codes are printed using standard production processes with no design changes.
• Counterfeiters can’t detect or reproduce the secured codes easily.
• Consumers can scan the QR codes as usual.
• Field brand experts can authenticate it using a dedicated smartphone app.

A layered method like that ensures that counterfeiters stay outmatched while consumers stay confident. While many industries rely on visible marks or smart packaging technologies like an NFC chip, those can still be copied or tampered with. Covert features like Cryptoglyph offer a deeper layer of security that works invisibly in the background.

How to Build Your Own Layered Brand Protection Strategy

A solid and effective protection strategy includes the right combination of visibility, technology, and process. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Start with a Clear Risk Assessment

Not all products face the same threat level. A high-value cosmetic line or a limited-edition spirit bottle demands stronger covert features than a mass-market product. Consider these factors to align investment with real risk:

• Market exposure: Where is counterfeiting most active—retail, online, or distribution?
• Product value: Which SKUs attract counterfeiters due to high margins or brand prestige?
• Supply chain complexity: The more intermediaries involved, the more points of vulnerability.

2. Define Your Visibility Strategy

Decide how much of your protection should be visible to consumers versus hidden from counterfeiters.

• Visible elements reassure buyers and enhance trust at the point of sale.
• Covert layers protect against imitation without revealing your methods.

This visibility balance is what separates short-term deterrence from long-term security resilience.

3. Integrate Physical and Digital Features

Modern brand protection extends beyond packaging. It blends physical features with digital traceability and authentication.

• Combine printing-based covert marks (like Cryptoglyph) with digital verification apps or blockchain-enabled systems.
• Use each product scan to collect data, trace movement, and detect suspicious activity or potential fraud in real time.

A layered solution turns every product into a connected authentication point, especially valuable for brands with international operations and distributed supply chains.

4. Train Internal Teams for Covert Feature Verification

Once you decide to implement covert security features, make sure you:

• Educate quality control, marketing, and distribution teams on verification protocols.
• Ensure your partners and inspectors have access to easy-to-use authentication tools, such as smartphone-based verification

Brand protection works best when it’s at the center and embedded across departments, not isolated within packaging or security.

5. Regularly Update and Audit Protection Layers

Counterfeiters evolve quickly. Your protection strategy should, too. Review and  adapt your security features by:

• Conducting regular audits to test the effectiveness of each layer.
• Rotating or upgrading features periodically to stay unpredictable.
• Measuring ROI not just in reduced counterfeits, but in preserved brand equity and consumer confidence.

Create Layered Smart Protection with AlpVision

There’s no single feature that can fully protect a brand from counterfeiting. Visible marks alone build trust, but they can be copied. Invisible elements alone provide strong proof, but they don’t speak to consumers. Real protection comes from layering both, each reinforcing the other, and preserving legitimate commerce and trade.

AlpVision’s patented solutions, like Cryptoglyph, make this possible by offering invisible, data-driven protection that integrates seamlessly into your packaging. A layered approach will also strengthen your position under the law, helping protect your intellectual property and support enforcement actions when counterfeit activity is detected.

Download our whitepaper to understand which type of security features are best for your brand.

Still have questions? Contact us to learn how AlpVision can support your brand protection goals.

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