There needs to be something you can DO with it, and there has to be a way to attract adherents to the coin. They key is therefore the ecosystem that is set up around it. Is it on exchanges? Does it have a marketplace? How about a casino for those that like to gamble? And of course a faucet or pay to watch site to draw in new casual users.
Too many folks just fork an existing coin and hope it works, put some time into developing a back end infrastructure of things to use it for rather than just "forking it and hope they come."
You understand one side to the problem. But what utility is there in an ecosystem for a clone if all potential adherents don't want to adhere? There needs to also be a preexisting innovation or at least the appearance of it for an ecosystem to have utility.