[mickey]

Pentax advertised on TV, magazines and public places in Tokyo.
Pentax often has the back cover or front insert in all the major photography magazines in Japan which, certainly after the push with the K-x, gave them a notable share in the market.
The Q, K-r, and K-5 gave the brand a big boost in Japan and Pentax competes hard with other brands in marketing and product placement overall.

Things abroad are pitiful, however.
I think Photoplus 2013 was an indication that marketing not equipment is lacklustre.

[Rondec]

I have both a Pentax and Nikon DSLR. I really don't see what the big deal is with this ergonomic advantage Pentax has. Each does something a little bit better than the other in certain areas but neither hands-down beats the other on everything.

People say Nikon's menu is a cluttered mess. It is. But they give you a custom menu to put things you use the most in one, convenient location. I heard people say the spot metering is so much better on a Pentax. Perhaps, but I can assign spot metering to a button right by my finger holding the camera and switch between spot and matrix without taking my eye from the viewfinder and within one second take two picture one with matrix and one with spot.

Plus I adapt to each camera I use. I learn it, don't complain too much and get down to the business taking pictures no matter which camera I'm using. There are so many things with a modern camera today that one can find things to like/dislike about all cameras.

I think Nikon is pretty good. So much of ergonomics is just a matter of taste and comfort. I am just used to how Pentax cameras work and where their buttons are at for easy chaging of settings. Pentax doesn't move stuff around much from model to model, so once you are familiar, you can pick up a different camera and jump in pretty quickly.

[Nesster]

I can add the perspective of someone who has only known of Pentax' existence for roughly 6 or 7 weeks.

When I started my photography class this semester, I had a Canon Rebel XS which was basically their entry level DSLR that came out like 3 years ago.

I wanted to upgrade to something better both for the class and just because I knew the Camera was behind the times.

I began researching other Canon's and Nikon's as well. I was very close to buying a Canon Rebel T3i from Amazon. I had it in my cart ready to check out. Then I decided to do just a little more research so I could make sure it was the best choice for me (Was looking to spend under $600 w/ a kit lens).

I came across the Compare digital cameras - Snapsort and decided to search for DSLRs under $1,000. What did I discover? Pentax Cameras were the top 3 choices in that price range. This was the first I'd heard of Pentax. This was surprising to me because I am online A LOT, doing research, browsing forums, on eBay/Amazon, I buy things online all the time and I shop around everywhere. I even started looking up Photography stuff for my class, and still never even cam across the name Pentax.

This definitely showed me that they have a huge need for some marketing. Even if they don't want to spend Canikon marketing dollars, they really should extend their marketing reach on the Internet. Somebody like me who's on the internet all the time should have came across it before 7 weeks ago.

And this is something all Pentaxians should keep in mind, and it goes with what I was saying: a brand with a small market share that's dominated by better known behemoths (Canon and Nikon + Sony, Panasonic in compacts) simply has a hard time getting attention or even noticed. Even Sony has had difficulty getting any more share in SLRs than Pentax has, this despite everyone on Earth knowing Sony.
My daughter has been taking photo classes for a few years now, and her classmates are always impressed by her Pentax. But even some instructors did not know Pentax was still around and making dSLRs, even if they remember the name from the film era.