What is success in Marketing?

I often come across as negative if I don't agree on something with the rest of the 'world'. Sometimes I belittle achievements incorrectly because I compare them to my own views, goals, experiences for myself, my company, or my clients.
Often we all get caught up in the Mega-Big, the Mega-Huge.

For example Avatar. Do you think going forward a movie must gross $500 million to be gauged a success now? That is ridiculous. On a more reality view if a business only reaches 100,000 people (0.033% of the US) and gets just 1,000 to pay $1,000 per year that is a Million Dollars. Do you make that kind of money?

The view of success is very subjective. I think before creating a Marketing Plan one must figure out the Goal of the plan first. And I truly do not think Impressions, Feel Good, Branding etc are Goals. Goals are Sales based on your Marketing Budget and resources (person hours). From there you can use the other ancillary activities to reach those goals. We often work forward instead of backwards. But backwards is easier. What does it take to meet the end goal?

And this who am I to judge if something is successful. In Mobile Marketing I often see PR articles about campaigns with results that seem awfully pitiful. But what if the end result is considered great by the business paying for the campaign? Shame on the Journalist for not contextualizing everything properly like a Sales Person would in a write up.

And while I might comment on a new technology or media channel as not having value, everything does have Value, it just has to be measured properly so the Brand can pay for that Value and not overpay.