Build One Thing That's Hard to Copy
Give viewers a tangible reason to pick you by owning something rivals can't replicate
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 80%
Brownlee starts from the commoditization problem: there are a thousand videos on the new iPhone, so why watch his? Some viewers come just for him, but he wants to give a real, tangible reason. He observes that anything you do well at the highest level, like top-down or macro shots, is highly visible and gets copied almost immediately, which is fine because they're good ideas. The strategic answer is to own at least one thing that is genuinely hard to copy, in his case an expensive camera-robot studio, so a couple of signature elements stay unique to his videos. Crucially, the hard-to-copy asset is tied intrinsically to the content, with intro shots referencing the video's title or theme, so competitors can't simply lift it. The expense is justified by reuse across years of videos.
Origin
Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal. Brownlee explains the reasoning behind buying a camera-robot studio: to have a couple of things unique to his videos that are hard for others to replicate.
Core principles
- 01In a crowded market, most viewers already have many options for the same topic
- 02Anything visible and valuable at the top level will be copied quickly
- 03Copyable improvements are still worth doing, but they don't differentiate
- 04A genuine edge needs at least one thing rivals find hard to replicate
- 05The hard-to-copy asset should tie intrinsically to the content, not sit on top
How to run it
- 1
Name the commoditization problem
Acknowledge that viewers have many options covering the same topic and need a concrete reason to choose you.
- 2
Sort your edges by copyability
Split what you do well into easily replicated techniques and things that are genuinely hard for others to reproduce.
Pro tip Top-down shots, macro shots and similar tricks are copyable; a bespoke studio capability is not.
- 3
Invest in the hard-to-copy asset
Commit resources to at least one signature capability that rivals can't cheaply match, accepting the upfront cost.
Watch out Only viable once you have the reach and budget to amortize the investment across many pieces.
- 4
Tie it intrinsically to the content
Weave the signature element into the substance of each piece so it references the specific video and can't be lifted as a generic template.
Pro tip Brownlee makes each robot intro reference the video's title or headline, turning it into an Easter egg viewers rewatch.
- 5
Amortize across everything
Reuse the expensive capability across years of output so the ROI is measured over the whole catalogue, not one video.
In the wild
After shooting a one-off video at a camera-robot studio, Brownlee realized it could be a signature. His reasoning: anything visible he does well, like top-down or macro shots, gets copied fast, and that's fine. But he wanted a couple of things that were genuinely hard to replicate. The robot lets MKBHD build intros that reference each video's title, so the edge is tied to the content itself and can't simply be copied.
→ A recurring, hard-to-replicate intro that viewers rewatch as an Easter egg, giving a tangible reason to choose his videos.
Common mistakes
Relying only on copyable tricks
Differentiating solely through techniques any rival can replicate leaves you with no durable reason for viewers to pick you.
A gimmick bolted on top
A signature that doesn't tie into the content is just a template competitors can lift, not a real edge.
Is it for you?
Best for
Established creators or brands in a crowded category who can invest in a signature capability.
Not ideal for
Early creators without the resources or reach to justify an expensive, hard-to-copy asset.
From the transcript
“all I wanted was something that's really hard to copy”
“we wanted a couple things that we could do that are unique to our videos to give you a reason to watch them”
From the episode
MKBHD: The Story To 16 Million & The World Of YouTube
MKBHD