I am very metrics- and numbers-driven. Just wanted to share a quick article that put campaign spending into perspective. I think most Americans believe that campaign spending is completely out of control and wasteful. Portfolio Magazine has a terrific and short article about how the presidential campaign spending compares to ad spending by large companies.

• Wendy’s: $315M
• Marketing on Microsoft Vista: $500M
• Presidential Campaign Spending (both parties): $1B
• AT&T: $2.25B
• P&G: $3.3B

The author argues that campaign spending is a bargain:

Given the magnitude of the decision and the cost of any branding campaign, the election industry’s spending of a billion dollars (over a four-year period) hardly seems overblown—especially for candidates who race onto the field with little or no brand identity.

Just like that, a deeply entrenched belief has been shattered. It is a good day.

UPDATE:
In the comments, Dave notes that the Biz360 technology shows that Hillary and Obama each got $1B of media coverage in Jan alone (thanks Dave).  It’s true, Tide does not get that kind of coverage.