No, it is not all marketing. You do have a blue base gold crossback. It looks to have some nice greenish blue in the core of the scale, and the rims look quite gold. I see evidence of some pearlies by the tail and base of the dorsal fin, but not a lot. No evidence of drop eye, nor protruding lower jaw or shark bite. Nice proportional fins. I think this is a quality piece that just needs grooming. I'd give it a solid B to B+ (good to very good). Ultimately I think 50% of an aro's development comes down to the genes and other 50% to the skill and care of the owner. Good luck with your fish
Here is a nice Blue Base Crossback I imported some years ago I would say this is a premium for sure
And another...
And another one I recently filmed at a store in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) Vietnam:
All three of the fish above come from the Merlion Dreamfish farm, located in Sabah, Malaysia.
Notice that all three of the fish in the videos above are also almost fully crossed over the 6th scale. The OP's fish has high shine, but may or may not fully cross. It would be nice to see the brood stock for the fish in quesiton.