I still don't understand.

I am cursed with a good memory and an affection for intelligent, differentiated marketing.

Maybe that combination leads me to question what marketing people do all day.

When I was a kid, there was an airline that flew to the Caribbean that promised you your money back if you stayed a week and had more than a certain amount of rain. That, not "low prices" induced people to fly.

The Chris Craft company, hearing too often that people weren't buying boats because "when would they use them?" ran an ad about "the 120 days people have off every year." Don't think about just using the thing on a weekend--think about all the holidays and days off.

Today, people who run beauty account seem to think finding the right celebrity who's "really really beautiful" is an idea. Brewers seek a better fart joke. Automakers search for a windier road.

Or words are copy-tested for their potency.

Such things are not marketing. They're time-sheeting.