Differentiation or Salience

Competitive brands seldom differ in any big way from each other. This is because any innovation with selling power tends to be quickly copied. Nor does the brands’ advertising generally give very different images or values to functionally similar brands, despite what tends to be said about this.Why then do similar brands have very different market shares? It is due to the very different numbers of people to whom each brand is “salient,” i.e., who feel positive about it. This can be developed, maintained, and/or nudged by advertising.