A conversation with Entertainment One’s Brand Protection Hero

Last updated on: September 2, 2021

Entertainment One focuses on the development, acquisition, production, and distribution of films, television, and music. One of their most popular productions is Peppa Pig. Have you heard of it? You most likely do if you have kids. If not, ask your niece or nephew about it and be prepared for a masterclass. 

That’s what happened to Stasa Racnkic, Brand Protection Senior Manager at Entertainment One. We had a lovely chat with her as part of Red Point’s Heroes of Brand Protection podcast. 

Head over to our podcast for the full interview or continue reading this article for a sneak peek into her journey. 

Key takeaways:

• The business overview. 
• Challenges faced as a brand protection expert.
• Advice for fellow brand protection professionals. 

The following is part of the transcript of Heroes of Brand Protection podcast, Episode 11 featuring a conversation between Stasa Racnik and Daniel Shapiro, Red Points’ VP of Brand Relationships. 

Q stands for questions from Daniel Shapiro.

Q: For those that may not know about your business, can you give a brief overview?

Entertainment One is an entertainment company that acquires, distributes, and produces films, music, and television. It’s a broad business: we have a family brands division and brand management of kids entertainment. Some of our most famous brands are Peppa Pig and PJ Masks. 

We are headquartered in Toronto, Canada and have offices worldwide.

EOne was acquired by Hasbro last year so we’re part of a much larger Korean games company, with even a larger international presence. They are present in over forty countries around the world and have a much larger portfolio of brands. I’m sure everyone is familiar with some of their games: Monopoly, Transformers, My Little Pony… Tthey license their brands across over one hundred product categories.

Q: What’s the hardest thing you have to do as Senior Brand Protection Manager?

What I find most challenging is prioritizing and deciding what cases to progress with and which to leave alone. With famous brands like Peppa Pig or PJ masks that are based on content and have a broad scope of possible infringement, it’s very hard to tackle everything with limited resources and on the budget. 

I would just love it if we could cross off infringements in certain categories but it doesn’t work like that unfortunately. We always have to make sure that what we do is worth it and that we have the most impact. Unfortunately, that’s not always an easy choice. Sometimes you spend money on investigations that lead nowhere and you just have to accept this 

Q: What advice would you give someone wanting to pursue a career similar to yours?

In general, I encourage students to take any opportunity their university provides regarding exchange programs or internships abroad. These experiences broaden your horizons and change/challenge your perspective on certain things. Maybe you will even end up studying something you had no idea existed. 

The second thing I would also advise is to network and participate in conferences, webinars or live events. It can help you significantly in your career, not only to learn more about the subject but to also meet people from the industry who can help you or inspire you.