Nos. 36 - 31: Apple joins the club.

36. Apple: $1 billion Apple's ad budget rose only marginally from a base of $467 million in 2007 until 2010. That year, Apple began a series of new product launches in both the iPhone and iPad lines that has continued unabated, most recently with iPhone 5and iPad Mini, both coming in the last few weeks. Apple reached the $1 billion mark in its fiscal 2011 year, which ended recently.

35. General Mills: $1.002 billion Most of General Mills' ad budget is spent on television ads ($835 million). It is tied with Pfizer on our list for spending the lowest percentage of its ad budget, just 0.2 percent, on billboards.

34. Google: $1.005 billion Google increased its ad spending by 60 percent since last year, giving it the biggest increase of any company on our list.

33. Microsoft Corp: $1.033 billion Microsoft spent $667 million more than Apple on advertising and $740 million more than Dell.

32. Sony Corp: $1.041 billion This Tokyo company spends the majority of its ad budget on television, with $564 million going towards the platform.

31. Capital One Financial Corp: $1.043 billion Capital One shelled out $280 million on television ads, part of which went to pay Jimmy Fallon and Alec Baldwin to appear in commercials.