Marketing on the other hand is what drives R&D. Marketing gets to do the customer research and determines the product strategy. They are the ones who tell the designers and engineers what direction to take.
It is like hitting the lottery when a marketing major actually gets into marketing. I have been unimpressed with the ones that I actually have worked with. They get to pick out colors and decals (edit: oooh, packaging too). My experience is that the engineering department works with a 1 in a million superstar designer that creates ridiculous concepts that have no constraints. Engineering then does what they want and the end bears a slight resemblance to the superstars concept.
Marketing does get to define the initial project parameters. Normally this involves no interaction with the actual product user. The marketing genius is naturally born with a mind that is in sync with the market. No data collection is necessary. This is why you see lots of product failures. It is my opinion that in marketing, ID and engineering departments, everyone gets farther out of sync with the market with every day at the office. Day after day with the product skews your perception of the consumer's perception of the product.