[88]

Just a theory but in a downturn I could see a lot of companies increasing their ad spend as they lose existing customers and find they need to work harder to acquire new ones.

Obviously this doesn’t apply to advertising which is just gratuitous brand building.

[somedude895]

It applies to Google. Their main revenue still comes from Search Engine Advertising, which is a really good customer acquisition channel.

But the reason ad spends decrease during downturns is that people consume less, so there's no point in advertising when nobody's buying.

[bigcloud1299]

This is opposite. Marketing budget is second to be cut first being building (space expansion). The R&D budget however goes up mid recession. Here is how the cuts work R&D, space expansion, marketing, parties, raises, new product building, warehouses,