The art of successfully Marketing a product involves inflating its good points and avoiding the bad points completely. So, for example, let's market E2:

We have to start with some facts. Contrary to popular belief, even marketing people have to start with some element of truth:

1. E2 holds information about stuff
2. You can search for stuff
3. stuff is linked to other stuff
4. You can write stuff yourself
5. You can chat to other people
6. You are given 'points' (of no real world value) for writing an article, or when other people vote for your article.

But facts are boring. You can't sell anything with facts alone! So, we inflate the truth a little:

1. E2 will soon contain all information you ever wanted to know about everything!
2. It's easy to find the information that you're looking for!
3. Hypertext™ links make it easy to locate related articles!
4. You can expand upon the wealth of information already in the database. Contribute your articles and they'll be read by thousands of people from around the world.
5. You can receive online support and advice from other friendly noders!
6. Become a proficient writer and progress through the levels to gain power and influence!

With enough practice, you too will be selling sand in the Sahara... :)
Purvis, I completely agree that brands are marketed in the way that you describe, but I stand by my claims for particular products and services. I was inspired to write the WU above when I looked through a mortgage leaflet at lunchtime, which even twisted the bad points so that they'd sound good to an uninformed observer.

Another good example is the website for my cable internet provider, which claimed that speeds were ...up to 20 times faster than a dial-up connection and then had a footnote to say "at 28.8bps", which as far as I know, nobody has been using for at least three years...
worldwide, again, I agree with you to an extent. Our Marketing Director would probably shoot me if he read my writeup and there are, of course, two sides to every story.

However, I think what you've done there is, you've given us the Marketing term for Marketing, thereby enhancing the validity of my own writeup. ;)

Let's convert your statement back from marketing-speak back to the facts, and add in the bits that were missed out: (This is not a personal attack!)

"Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumers' requirements profitably" should be "Marketing is the thing responsible for identifying, creating and satisfying consumers' perceived desires profitably"