Buyers can't tell the difference between our widget and the competitor's widget because functionally there isn't one.

We're perfecting features that look really cool in a demo but that the average user wouldn’t ever use.

But these so-called “improvements” do nothing more than keep us in the game. They don't provide us with ways to win.

I’m not saying that substance no longer matters and marketing can now do all the work.

I’m saying that In markets where products 'just work' and any functional differences between them are minimal, perception becomes substance.