Academics divide awareness into status (perceived quality) effects and reputation (actual quality) effects. Paid marketing influences both, but there are other ways of getting your name out there, and some companies are better at it than others.

> I'd buy Sennheiser over Beats

Sennheiser has a higher reputational quality than Beats, but most people know of Beats because of Beats' affiliations (status) and their large marketing budget.