> The water filter that you bought way back
> was marketed with advertising in press and
> probably TV. All kinds of marketing messages
> filtered (ouch!) into your brain before you
> chose that brand and model. This particular
> product happens to come with a renewable
> income stream for the manufacturers - the
> cartridges. Sure, the cartridges on their
> own need little direct marketing, but that
> is because the means of using them has had
> tons.

The reason I bought the water filter was because I have no bench space for a water dispenser and I got sick and tired of buying bottle after bottle.

So the only way I know of to drink water without buying bottle after bottle was to filter my tap water - I am allergic to the substances that are put in our tap water. The supermarket has one brand only - a brand I had NEVER heard of before. So I bought it.

> Ultimately, my definition of sales versus
> marketing is that marketing is everything
> that is done to create a need, and sales is
> the act of fulfilling it.

> I am sure there are a million alternatives,
> though.

Yep. I depends on how semantic you want to get. :o)

It certainly is an interesting thread.

For instance, how much did marketing to our parents come into play? By going shopping with mum I learn which stores carry which foods. SO even if that store never markets to me, I still know what they stock because I went shopping with mum as a youngster.

Michael Ross