Can small sites rank better than larger sites that have more traffic?

[Dustybones]

Matt Cutts offers some info on how small websites can rank well against national brands with more traffic. The best part of this video is the fact that Matt is sporting a Mozilla T-Shirt.

How can small sites become popular?

How can smaller sites with superior content ever rank over sites with superior traffic? It's a vicious circle: A regional or national brick-and-mortar brand has higher traffic, leads to a higher rank, which leads to higher traffic, ad infinitum.
Dan