A product with superior message to market match. Most people are looking for the gimmick Apple uses to "make people buy their stuff." That's why competitors will continue to fail at making Apple knockoffs rather than doing in-depth user research.

The radical strategy people fail at time and time again is talked about by highly paid copywriter Gary Bencivenga, A gifted product is mightier than a gifted pen. A superior product gives the best market results because if it is not in the product or service, it ain't going to be in the marketing.

Not to mention, when the entire breath and scope of the competition is focussed on the gimmick, a superior product is practically unassailable competitive advantage. Are Apply products "insanely great?" No. Apple's only secret is having competitors crippled by thinking marketing makes people buy whatever you're selling this week.

More directly in response to your specific example is Terrabite Lounge "pay what you want." And Granite Rock, selling concrete and gravel to the construction industry....

That's your tie example on steroids. It forces product and service superiority through instant penalties. That's the implication of your tie example: Don't Sell Inferior Ties or You Will Go Broke. Feel free to buy really bad ties and try this experiment for yourself.

Your gimmick is in depth market research. Write absolutely great copy based on the research. Then build the product to the sales letter as if it were a blueprint. Most of your competitors build the product with only the vaguest idea of a market or user, then they employ marketing and copywriting with the magical notion it makes people buy the stuff. So I guess part and parcel is looking for markets where the competition is inept - that seems to be the only thing Apple does that's different.

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