Can a business succeed without advertising? Why or why not?

A firm can spend millions of dollars for advertising, and it is only natural to want some feedback on the results of such an expenditure: To what extent did the advertising really pay of f? Yet many problems confront the firm trying to measure this.
Most methods for measuring effectiveness focus not on sales changes but on how well the communication is remembered, recognized, or recalled. Most evaluative methods simply tell which ad is the best among those being appraised. But even though one ad may be found to be more memorable or to create more attention than another, that fact alone gives no assurance of relationship to sales success. A classic example of the dire consequences that can befall advertising people as a result of the inability to directly measure the impact of ads on sales occurred in December 1970.
In 1970, the Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency created memorable TV commercials for Alka-Seltzer, such as the “spicy meatball man,” and the “poached oyster bride.” These won professional awards as the best commercials of the year and received high marks for humor and audience recall. But in December, the $22 million account was abruptly switched to another agency. The reason? Alka-Seltzer’s sales had dropped somewhat. Of course, no one will ever know whether the drop might have been much worse without these notable commercials. So, how do we measure the value of millions of dollars spent for advertising? Not well. Nor can we determine what is the right amount to spend, what is too much or too little.