It's always good with empirical references, and positive news. This piece (in Swedish) is about BMW and a insurance company during the last recession 2001. BMW Sweden choosed to gain their marketing budget, and the result was an increase of about 27% on the marketing spend on each sold car. This in turn resulted in increased sales for about 10-15% for this period, depending on the model. Obviously they had lots of advantages after the recession as they grabbed market shares and changed the perception of the brand for their new audience.  

A perfect example on the theories about the possibilities to get advantages during these times. And not to hold back too much.   

Tags: marketing in a recession, bmw, possibilities