what if Coke took its annual advertising and marketing budget... upwards of $2B I hear. and put that cash into a high interest savings account. Our economy would take a hit - ad adgencies, vendors, video production studios, marketing managers. But, how long until Coke took a hit in sales? and if they did, they have that $2 in the bank.

The real problem is that people don't know how to properly implement and track marketing. And then you get statements like this.

To get the full context of this quotation, you should definitely read the Fast Interview with Steven Quartz: http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2007/11/interview-quartz.html

That said, and having read the article, I agree with Quartz that marketing isn't an "all-powerful force" of manipulation, but I think marketing definitely has an effect on consumers. Apple didn't become a "cool" brand just because, and not even because their products are good. There are plenty of good products that people don't crave in the same way.

Do people KNOW how to accurately track marketing? Can anyone make a real causal link between growth and any specific marketing program? Is that why you can't say definitively that it does anything at all? Is it like Schrodinger's cat in a state of both affected and unaffected by marketing, and we can't say which state its actually in?

... do I have to read the entire article before commenting?

agreed april, when it comes to companies like apple where products AND marketing/design create cool. its too bad we probably won't ever see an experiment with an established brand like Coke drop its marketing budget. AND witness the ill effects of Pepsi coming in and saturating top-of-mind with their brand.

Driving in the "blind spot" is dangerous both personally and corporately.

After working with entrepreneurs for several years now, one major failing keeps surfacing -- too many have a fatal marketing "blind spot".

These entrepreneurs thoroughly understand their technology. They may well be on their way to mastering the engineering and operational issues involved in delivering their product or service. Yet they persist -- often until it is too late -- in believing that the marketing issues are relatively simple -- because everyone will surely love their new product or service as much as they do.

Only after that product or service is "ready" -- or worse, after early sales attempts have bombed -- will someone like me get a call. Of course, at that point most of the money's gone. Sometimes huge amounts! There's neither time nor money to do a competent marketing plan, let alone execute it -- and the venture fails -- needlessly.

In my experience, this marketing "blind spot" is the single most common cause of startup failures -- in fact, I'm starting to believe, more common than all others combined.

The most important piece of advice that I can give entrepreneurs is to get a marketing "reality check" early on -- like at the beginning, before you even know that your product or service will do what you're hoping it will do.

Hire an independent (read: objective) professional to take a look at your intended market.

Is it really there? Can it be penetrated (or developed) and what's likely to be required to do so? This is just a "look." It doesn't have to be an expensive, complicated project. In fact, at this point, it shouldn't be. But it's absolutely certain that it will be much less "expensive" than if it's done downstream.