Useful article from Advertising Age called "Recession Hits: What It Means for the Ad Biz":
Merrill Lynch last week became the first major U.S. investment bank to
declare the U.S. economy in recession. Two days later, Goldman Sachs
jumped in, predicting that the economy would enter recession during
2008, if it wasn’t there already. [snip]So in order to find out what that means for the marketing world, Ad Age
asked leading industry executives what they think a recession means for
the business in 2008.Their reply: It might not hurt in the short-term, but if things don’t tick up, gird yourself for a tough 2009.