Marketing is a very funny thing. The trick is building name recognition without making consumers feel advertised to. I know that in mountain biking, beginners go straight for the names they know, and often will stay loyal to that brand name. When I was a kid, I thought it was the end of the world when I got a Giant (Giant was still fairly obscure at the time) instead of a Specialized or Trek bike for my birthday. My Giant Acapulco cost $100 less than the Hadrocks that my fiends had, and it worked just as well and had basically the same components and weight. In Fact, I still have that 15-year-old Giant and it still works great for my wife (it’s a little small for me now).
It is amazing how upset people get when you say something negative about their beloved Specialized, Trek, or Cannonade bicycles. These companies certainly do have a knack for making us believe that a stupid name is worth hundreds of dollars.