When I think of a specialty product, Tesla Motors comes to mind. Living here in the SF Bay Area it seems that Tesla vehicles are a dime a dozen. However, what I find interesting is when out of town guests on a movie tour actually point one out. Even more, if we are on a break during the tour they'll actually take a picture of it as it's something they've heard about, but not seen. I think Tesla has done a fantastic job of maintaining a concept of exclusivity when selling their cars. Similar to Apple, they use fantastic PR practices to create demand, and then they ensure that there is not enough product right off the bat to meet this demand. I read recently that Tesla essentially has a zero dollar marketing budget, as they rely so much on PR (public relations) and word-of-mouth to sell their cars. Tesla fans are huge advocates of the car and, more importantly, they get emotionally invested in their purchase.
We've seen this idea of emotional attachment with Apple also.
1. Can you provide any other examples?
2. Would you see this happening with convenience products?