Brandification

Why is it this is the first Presidency I have witnessed that discussed the Presidency as a "brand"? Why has Barack Obama's Presidency been commodified? Marketed? Sold? What does this mean? Is he responsible for this brandification, because of the excellent branding achieved by his campaign? The brand of Change, the brand of Obama, the signage, the fonts, the colors. I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure presidents have had this same marketing--slogans and other techniques. But, why has this black man been branded? After writing that, I Just thought about it on a deeper level of branding. Hot iron branding. hmmmmmmmm