[drugstorecowboy]

I know it's not the point you are trying to make, but whether or not marketing actually does anything isn't a settled question. When company A does marketing and company B doesn't in the same industry, it seems to have some effect, but when neither company does marketing sales don't necessarily go down.

Fun fact, the cigarette companies lobbied the government to ban cigarette advertising. That way, none of them would be able to market and get ahead of the others while all of them would save money on the marketing that was no longer needed. A corresponding drop in sales did not occur.