... interest to agree to takethe poll. Furthermore, "independent" research firms, when hired by vendors, usually know ahead oftime what findings are desired and adjust the research to fit. Like ... billion in brand marketing over a five-year period, whilecontinuing to make products that fewer people wanted to buy. Their marketing collateral wasgorgeous, but they went out of business.The ... waste of money. There's just too much "brand spam" floating around foranyone to take notice.Smarter strat egy: Set goals for and measure every marketing activity by whether (andhow...