When did marketing start and by who?

I heard that the "professional ladies" of Pompeii, Rome and Ancient Greece wore sandals that left the Words "Follow Me" in their footprints in the sandy streets, which is supposedly the earliest known record of direct maketing. The idea was that prospective clients would se the tracks and follow them to their place of employment, I suppose.

In the modern world, it would be the big corporate giants, where marketing culture shifted away from sales and production, to marketing (since there was excess products). This includes mcdonalds, sony, etc. One commonl used marketing exampple is the "brooke and jeremy" story where sony started rumors about the singer and vj, but brooke had absolutely no idea about it, and both were upset about the rumors. It's a very notable example of viral marketing.