Dan Douglass on direct

Dan Douglass

Last night, I went along to the IDM Business Performance Awards. It was really heartening to see an industry which, far from broken, appears robust and optimistic.

For me, having worked through three recessions, it reaffirmed one overriding truth. In those sectors most vulnerable to recession - service industries, travel and leisure, retail and charity - good insight-based creative marketing is one of the few guarantors of stability and growth.

Waterstone's led the way by netting the Diamond Award with a loyalty programme that resulted in significant increases in basket value, transactions and sales. Acquiring 2.8 million cardholders is no mean feat in a difficult trading environment.

Silver went to Visit Scotland who have succeeded in bringing in £18 million of incremental spend by increasing frequency and value of visits through their 'Keep Discovering' loyalty programme (and no doubt capitalising on the recessionary trend for 'staycations').

By activating dormant users, free restaurant booking service Toptable.com has used e-CRM to drive up bookings by 76% in a year. And Radisson Edwardian have used highly targeted paid search which highlights the USP's of each hotel to drive growth in food and drink and occupancy rates. The mood was definitely up at the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington.

In keeping with the evening's theme of resilience, even awards host Sally Gunnel appears to be surviving the recession in rude health as she held forth on the subject of winning. Apparently, the night after her gold medal run in Barcelona thirteen years ago (an achievement which entailed years of self-denial), she succumbed to a yearning for a Big Mac. Walking in through the golden arches of MacDonalds in the Olympic Village (don't ask), she was greeted by a Spanish burger flipper who'd recognised the star athlete from her triumph of the night before.

The girl, clearly in awe, led Gunnel to a table where she proceeded to lay a table cloth, set a place with real cutlery and bring a groaning tray of everything supersize - Big Mac, large fries, shake, apple pie, the works. Forget the instant adoration, the Michelin-star rezzies or the chauffeur -driven lifestyle that comes with winning a Olympic Gold and achieving overnight celebrity. For Gunnel, this - the silver service Big Mac and fries - was what winning was all about.

She then went on to praise the chocolate souffle.