Surlys at Evans - Might be time to sell mine

MrSmith surly have an image as some backstreet brand run by really nice blokes with beards when the reality is they are quite big, get their stuff made in the same factories as everyone else and have corporate money behind them, would people still buy the stuff if it had 'Trek' written on it? or pay the same?
they make some nice stuff (their ss cogs and chainrings are excellent) but their branding/marketing is cleverly executed.

Absolutely, it's all about the marketing - look at Rapha, and even Cervelo and Zipp, brands that became damn big in like 2 years only...