Nobody plans for "what if we do too well". But that's exactly what can happen to a brand today, because social media isn't just marketing any more, it's now how the whole business grows, and sometimes overnight. It used to be a place to make people aware of a product, or somewhere they'd see it before going off to search for it or visit a website. Now, apps like TikTok and Instagram let people go from watching a video to buying the product without ever leaving the app. That turns your socials into a shop front in its own right, which is how the numbers can move so fast.
Here's what that's already looked like for a few brands:
Great problem to have! But when sales jump that fast, everything else in the business has to keep up too.
This isn't about how to go viral, but if this happened to you tomorrow, would you actually be ready?
When a brand suddenly gets a lot of attention, the same few problems tend to show up:
Your website and delivery can't keep up. Behave (a sweet brand) sold more from one TikTok video than in the whole previous month. Great result, but only good news if the website can handle that many visitors, and the team can get all those orders out the door.
You run out of stock. When Prime Hydration went viral in the UK, people queued outside Asda and Aldi before the shops even opened. Once the shelves were empty, people started reselling bottles online, one seller on eBay asked £400 for just twelve bottles.
Copycats and fakes show up. Once a product is hard to get hold of, fake versions often appear fast. Reports on TikTok Shop found a product can go viral in the morning and have fake copies or scam listings online by the evening.
Unhappy customers and fraud appear. A report by LexisNexis found "friendly fraud", where people falsely dispute a payment to get their money back, made up 36% of all fraud cases in 2024, up from 15% the year before. Add in real customers annoyed about late deliveries or a product that wasn't ready for that much attention, and the same buzz that built the brand can start to damage it.
You can't always predict the moment, but you can check you're ready for it if it does come:
→ Could your website cope if visitors suddenly shot up?Mostly yes? You're in good shape. Mostly no? Better to sort it now than during the time you actually need it.
Good planning covers most problems, but insurance is there to help when planning might not be enough.
Cyber insurance, including the business interruption (cover that pays out if you can’t trade normally), can respond to a sudden spike in demand, but not simply because lots of real customers are trying to buy from you. That on its own isn’t an insured trigger. For Examples, what would trigger it is a DDoS attack, where someone deliberately floods your site with fake traffic to take it down, which counts as a cyber-attack, or a genuine system or hardware failure, where the strain of the extra traffic actually breaks your systems. Either of those causing an outage would trigger a cyber cover alongside the lost revenue.
Fraud cover, usually part of a cyber policy, can help with fraudulent orders made using stolen card details or impersonation scams, which tend to rise once a brand gets more attention, though it won’t cover genuine customers who simply want a refund or dispute a sale.
Stock insurance covers your stock if it’s lost, damaged, destroyed or stolen, for example a warehouse fire, flood, or theft in transit; should this occur during a surge in orders this can disrupt the business.
Legal expenses cover helps pay for taking action against people selling fakes of your product. IP insurance goes a step further, helping protect your own trademarks, designs and branding, and covering you if someone else claims you've infringed theirs, which becomes more likely once a lot more people are suddenly looking at your brand. Fraud cover, usually part of a cyber policy, helps with the rise in fraudulent orders and refund claims that often follows a sales spike.
Product liability is the part of your cover that responds if your product causes damage or harm to a third party. As you grow and gain more traction, your exposure increases, meaning the likelihood of a claim happening goes up regardless of the quality of the product. Should an issue go viral, it can lead to multiple people claiming, meaning increased legal costs and potential compensation.
IP insurance, specifically pursuit cover (cover that pays your legal costs when you take action against someone infringing your rights), can respond to that - and that packaging, design or branding doesn’t need a registered trademark behind it to count. Copyright, trade secrets and trade dress all exist automatically, with no registration required: copyright in your packaging artwork or product photography, trade secrets in a formulation or process, trade dress in a product’s overall look and feel. A registered trademark, design or patent just gives you a clearer right to point to, it isn’t a precondition for cover. The trigger is someone actually copying a right you hold, not simply a competitor selling something similar in the same space.
Management liability cover protects both the business and the individuals making the decisions personally. If investors allege the board mismanaged the growth opportunity, for example through poor financial controls or failing to secure enough stock, and that leads to legal action against the directors or officers as individuals, the D&O element responds on their behalf. Rushed hiring or redundancy decisions made to keep pace with demand can also trigger employment claims. The entity side of the same cover responds when it’s the business itself facing the claim rather than a named individual, for example a regulator investigating how customer data or marketing claims were handled during the surge.
Capsule helps growing consumer brands get ready for moments exactly like this. Get in touch to talk about what cover makes sense for you.
Disclaimer: This content has been produced for general information purposes and should not be taken as formal advice. You should always seek specific professional advice before acting on any of the information given.