Products that have been around for a long time, and are not innovative with their marketing are generally the best products I’ve experienced.

In Indian context, they are Rooh Afza, Sat Isabgol, Parle G, Vicco, Coke Zero/Diet Coke, and the likes.

On the other hand, a product that’s known for its marketing, or is generally in mind because of marketing, is most of the times very mid.

In Indian context, Patanjali comes to mind. Never talked about for the product, always for who is promoting it.

Same thing with my internet provider. Airtel runs a lot of ads promoting itself, provides very bad internet connectivity for my WiFi. ACT on the other hand provides great connectivity, and fixes issues pretty promptly, with no ads that I can recall right now.

But why does this happen?

I think, a genuinely good product is spread by customers, so company doesn’t need to spend a lot of money promoting it.

So what essentially ends up happening is that best products don’t get promoted, and new/inferior products have to spend a lot on marketing to keep up.

This doesn’t mean marketing isn’t useful for sellers, it obviously is very important to get started, as well as to build a brand recall.

But to get the best experience as a consumer, you should try to ignore the marketing and rely on people around you.