Diamonds, it appears, are not just a girl's best friend. As most advertisers pack up their budgets, the luxury goods companies are doing their best to ride to the rescue of the media.

Whether it be Swiss watches, expensive holidays in exotic locations or good, old-fashioned sparklers, there is no sign that the appetite for all things luxurious has been sated. The haves, it seems, still have plenty and with all manner of newly wealthy Russians and Indian and Chinese high-flyers eager to splash their cash, the world's luxury goods groups are desperate to display their wares to the best possible effect.

This was elegantly shown by Pearson. The owner of the Financial Times this week reported that advertising in areas such as corporate finance, technology, recruitment, property, mortgages and personal finance was under pressure. The sort of pressure that has been felt across the sector and has wiped hundreds of millions of pounds off the market capitalisations of media companies.

However, this decline was offset by a boost to luxury advertising, with the group highlighting a strong performance at its glossy How to Spend it title.

Figures compiled for The Times by Nielsen Media Research have further emphasised that manufacturers of high-end products, and even luxury hotels and holiday companies are not holding back on advertising spend.

As the high street retailers announce more doom and gloom, wealthy men and women, it seems cannot have enough accessories, with Tiffany increasing its UK advertising spend by £200,000 to £1.9million in the year to last June, Louis Vuitton luggage increasing UK advertising spend from £67,000 to £1.7 million, the handbag-maker Radley raising its spending from £326,365 to £953,044 and Jimmy Choo, the shoe designer, increasing its advertising spend by about £50,000.

This is further emphasised by the beauty industry. Clinique increased spending on its premium cosmetics range to £2.1 million, up from £1.3 million the previous year. L'Oréal increased spending on its premium cosmetics from £344,000 in the year to June 2007 to £1.25 million in the past year.

Top-end hotel advertising has been equally buoyant in the year to June 2008. Mandarin Oriental was up to £457,182, from £395,812 and Ritz Carlton increased spend to nearly £300,000 from £175,851.

However, it is not just the advertising-dependent British media companies that are benefiting from a buoyant luxury goods sector. United Business Media, (UBM) the exhibitions, events and business-to-business publisher, this week said that events such as its jewellery, boat shows and cruise shows, which attract exhibitors from around the world, are growing at a rapid rate.

“We have found there is growing demand for these events. The Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair [Asia's largest jewellery fair] is doing particularly well,” David Levin, the chief executive of UBM, said. The event sees more than 38,000 visitors from 138 countries and 2,500 exhibitors from 48 countries.

Many question how long the super-rich can remain immune from the credit crunch, but in the forseeable future, while the rest of us are stuck at home in front of the television moaning about being penniless, the top tier of the population can, as usual, be found shopping in Bond Street or sunning themselves on their super yachts.

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