Are we talking about marketing or advertising? There is a big difference. If we're talking about advertising then I think Apple will always be up near the top

Are we talking about marketing or advertising? There is a big difference. If we're talking about advertising then I think Apple will always be up near the top of the list - especially on sites like Hacker News. I think 37signals does a great job of marketing their products, but they spend very little (any?) on advertising. Their well designed products and self promotion lead to a pretty large group of 37signals evangelists, so they don't NEED to spend money on advertising. I think the best self promoter out there right now is Barack Obama - the system his campaign has setup to get donations, get the word out about "attacks," etc. is unmatched. I think we can learn a lot by dissecting how his campaign went from the underdog to the frontrunner.