This reminds me of our experience as well; seems like in the modern age of the internet, it is really hard for a quality engineering signal to break out over marketing hype.
Might be something more profound about people's lack of trust in institutions. Happy 4th :-)
I disagree, at least partially. While it might be hard to get out over something short like a KickStarter campaign, eventually quality always matters more than hype. But it can take a while to get there. We all know cases where the lack of good marketing means a great idea runs out of runway before it has a chance to really get noticed.