You are right, but Apple's definition of marketing doesnt end with the billboards or the tv commercials.

Every time you see someone wearing those white earbuds, that's marketing. When your mom is always on her ipad, despite 20 years of lessons from you on how to use a computer, that's marketing. When you are sitting in an airport and you notice the glow of the Apple logo on the back of someone's Macbook Air, that's marketing. When the same dude is still using his macbook, 6 hours into a flight without a powercord, that's marketing. When you walk into an Apple store, and you feel the aluminum unibody... when you unwrap the sturdy yet smooth packaging and the bottom slides out to reveal the device... when computer boots directly to a gray apple logo on a white screen, instead of a DOS prompt for a few seconds, that's marketing.

It takes a lot of work to do Apple style marketing.

I completely agree. Apple's marketing is genius. But, the comment I was replying to seems to think that Apple invented effective marketing, and that's just not true. They do it really, really well, but you gotta be chugging the kool-aid to think that they invented the concept of using their products to advertise their brand.

There is no other company that can market a company like apple.

No other company can just show their product without having to say anything about it. That makes Apple unique in such a fundamental way which is exactly why they are the most (or one of the most) valuable company in the world.

I don't disagree. Apple is among the best marketers in the world. But they didn't invent it - they just do it best-in-class.

They invented a specific kind of marketing where the product was the message. There is no other company in the world to my knowledge that can do that.

See their advertising for the iPod with the white headphones and the silhouettes.

Other companies don't do marketing then?

Not as well as apple does.

Apple didn't even invent the idea - Bose has been doing it for years.

Bose product sounds good, yes, but not as good as their price tag. Bose also severely restricts the way you can use the product - no bass/treble knobs for example. Very similar to Apple.

Bose sounds good? Ok. There's a reason for this jingle:

"No highs, no lows, must be Bose."

neither is "inventing" or "innovating" or "manufacturing"

Your point?