Completion Date
CONTENTS
1. Introduction..3
2. The Color Run: Event Management Profile4
3. The Color Run Lausanne: A Profile.5
4. The Color Run Lausanne: Sustainable Event Management Practice6
4.1. Stakeholder Analysis..7
4.2. Media Coverage..9
4.3. Community Implications10
5. Recommendations11
6. References.13
The Color Run Lausanne: Sustainable Event Management Report
1. INTRODUCTION
Festivity has become an integral part of social life in 2000s. In addition to conventional celebratory events – e.g. Christmas, Halloween and home coming in U.S, for example – events organized around athletic, charity or awareness-raising themes have come to capture attention of an increasing number of social segments beyond younger ones. For instance, sports events organized and/or sponsored by companies, under different headings of corporate social responsibility (CSR), highlight how events including large masses can benefit different stakeholders, beyond an immediate charity cause. Typically, community events are initiated, organized and/or fund-raised by non-for-profit organizations. This is a fairly conventional business model, particularly for charity or community development causes. In contrast, event management is also a for-profit business. For current purposes, sustainability practices of event management companies are explored. This specific focus is, in fact, justified by how sustainability has come to be an increasingly important concept in supply chain management, including in event management (Dey, LaGuardia & Srinivasan, 2011). More specifically, practices adopted by event management companies are analyzed from a stakeholder and business sustainability perspectives. This paper does not aim, however, to offer a broad analysis of event management practices at large. Instead, one given practice in one given location is analyzed. The Color Run Lausanne is, more specifically, explored in depth in order to assess whether practices adopted by The Color Run company actually cater to stakeholder needs or not. This paper aims, hence, to analyze event management practices by The Color Run Lausanne in order to identify best practices as per multiple stakeholders and, ultimately, to offer recommendations for gaps in sustainability practice as performed by The Color Run Lausanne.
This paper is made up of four sections in addition to Introduction: (1) The Color Run: Event Management Profile, (2) The Color Run Lausanne: A Profile, (3) The Color Run Lausanne: Sustainable Event Management Practice and (4) Recommendations. "The Color Run: Event Management Profile" section is an overview of company's mission, vision, partnerships and CSR / charity projects / initiatives. "The Color Run Lausanne: A Profile" section is a more focused discussion of The Color Run practice in Lausanne, Switzerland. The discussion covers, primarily, areas of organized events and activities. "The Color Run Lausanne: Sustainable Event Management Practice" section is an in-depth analysis of The Color Run Lausanne's event management practices. The analysis covers areas of CSR & sustainability, stakeholders, media coverage and community criticism. The "Recommendations" section offers insights into better event management practices and provides actionable strategies for more sustainable practice and stakeholder interest balance.
2. THE COLOR RUN: EVENT MANAGEMENT PROFILE
The Color Run is, against contrary belief, a for-profit company ("About," n.d.). If anything, company's stated mission (and implicit vision) emphasizes how The Color Run company is meant to "promote healthiness and happiness by bringing the community together to participate in the “Happiest 5K on the Planet."" ("About"). The core activity in company's series of events in different countries is running. This activity of running is surrounded by numerous activities which cater to different needs of multiple stakeholders.
The Color Run has, notably, a broad range of stakeholders cutting across different activities and industries. According to company's corporate website, The Color Run has stakeholders including business partners, sponsors, media and charity ("Partnership," n.d.). As part of company's commitment to community at large, aka CSR, The Color Run company has donated over $3 million to charity since inception in 2012 based on a structured donation practice including: (1) Post Race Donation (donations made directly to partner charities), (2) Embedded Giving (donations made via runners during registration) and (3) Charity Registrations (city-specific donations based on registrations by participating runners) ("Charity," n.d.).
3. THE COLOR RUN LAUSANNE: A PROFILE
The Color Run Lausanne is an affiliate of parent The Color Run. Typically of all company's affiliates, The Color Run Lausanne organizes running events at specific periods namely, in September, every year (The Color Run Lausanne, 2011-2017). The upcoming running event, on September 25, is sold out (The Color Run Lausanne), reflecting event's high popularity. Themed around orange, green and pink colors, The Color Run Lausanne's upcoming event is priced at 51 CHF (Team Member), 53 CHF (Individual); 55 CHF (Team Member), 57 CHF (Individual); and 68 CHF (Team Member), 70 CHF (Individual), respectively (The Color Run Lausanne).
Formerly, The Color Run Lausanne has organized similar events over years. In 2015, for example, The Color Run Lausanne activities features standard running activity, T-shirt giveaways, "Happy" and "The Color Run" skin imprints, color spraying and partying (The Color Run Switzerland, 2016). As far as research results have shown, no outstanding issues arose from The Color Run Lausanne events. Still, a deeper look is required into The Color Run Lausanne's sustainability practices and stakeholder stewardship in order not only to fulfill set objectives of current analysis agenda, as shown above, but also to offer recommendations for better practice.
4. THE COLOR RUN LAUSANNE: SUSTAINABLE EVENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
Sustainability has, as noted above, become an increasingly important requirement for numerous businesses, including event management companies. Notably, sustainability is based on pillars of economic, social and environmental stewardship. That is, in adopting a specific sustainability strategy a given company should consider for economic, social and environmental factors. In so doing, organizations strike a proper balance between all factors and hence cater for different stakeholder needs as explained in more detail shortly. Moreover, in balancing out economic, social and environmental factors, companies adopting a clear sustainability strategy need identifiable metrics not only in order to maintain existing performance but, more significantly, to help make sustainability an integral component of corporate strategy.
The Treble Bottom Line Approach (TBL) is, if anything, one broadly applied metric by which sustainability practices can be assessed in a more quantifiable manner. The "Treble" part refers to People, Profit, Planet, each addressing a specific factor mentioned above. Thus, by measuring impact of business activities of a given company on economic, social and environmental aspects in a given community using People, Profit and Planet metrics, sustainability practices can be better assessed and sustained over long range, let alone better catering for different stakeholder needs. For current purposes, metrics of People, Profit and Planet are applied to The Color Run Lausanne in order to assess sustainability practices of The Color Run Lausanne and analyze stakeholder needs and interests for an ultimate goal of recommending better practices. For more specificity, The Color Run Lausanne's upcoming event in September 25 remains a central focus for next sections.
The analysis is made up of: (1) Stakeholder Analysis, (2) Media Coverage, and (3) Community Implications. The "Stakeholder Analysis" section offers an in-depth analysis of different stakeholders participating in The Color Run Lausanne's event in September 25. The "Media Coverage" section samples one global photo agency's coverage of The Color Run Lausanne's event in 2015 in order to predict future media coverage in 2017. The "Community Implications" section reflects on criticisms drawn by a community in a different location, i.e. Ypsilanti, MI, USA, in order to predict potential implications for next Lausanne event.
4.1. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
Given current organization setup, as shown on company's corporate website, The Color Run Lausanne has a broad range of stakeholders who have immediate interest in upcoming event in September 25. Specifically, The Color Run Lausanne's stakeholder network can be divided up into: business partners, sponsors, volunteers, organizers and charities. Lausanne Capital Olympique ("A Propos," n.d.) is The Color Run Lausanne's business partner; sponsors, Coop ("Profile of the Coop Group," n.d.) and Calypso Watches ("About Us," n.d.); volunteers, unspecified; organizers, Imagine; and charities, Make a Wish.
This is, indeed, a broad stakeholder network spanning different areas. In business, The Color Run Lausanne has chosen to partner with a state agency, Lausanne Capital Olympique. This is a close match to both Switzerland's and The Color Run Lausanne's orientation. Mainly, a hospitality agency, particularly a state one, is apt to help The Color Run Lausanne promote different running activities in one of world's most expensive and richest areas. Based on TBL approach, partnering with Lausanne Capital Olympique helps local communities (People) find more options for entertainment, drive local economy (Profit) by spending more and, as far as practices by The Color Run Lausanne in previous years are concerned, no outstanding complaint has arisen as to environmental harms caused by different running activities (Planet).
In sponsoring area, The Color Run Lausanne's reach for Coop (a retail company) and Calypso Watches (a watch manufacturer) best fits running activities which require a regular consumption of food and beverages (let alone brand's visibility in a much highlighted event) in a county well known globally for watch manufacturing. On another hand, The Color Run Lausanne might need to further examine product offerings of Coop and Calypso Watches whose offerings might include harmful components for environment or employ cheap labor at hazardous working conditions.
In volunteering area, no specific mention, as far as corporate website is concerned, about requirements for volunteering. (The Color Run Lausanne's website is checked when registration is closed. An analysis of archived pages during registration phase might yield different insights, an endeavor far beyond current focus.) Still, volunteers remain critical even for a for-profit company, if only to minimize costs of logistics and supply chain.
In organization area, Imagine, an insurance company, is consistent not only to The Color Run Lausanne's physical activities but also to Switzerland's long-standing history of insurance and financial services. Indeed, organizer choice is a long and complex process which should consider for, among many factors, consistency to a given organized event's activities. The insurance services offered by Imagine should, moreover, be further examined by The Color Run Lausanne in order to ensure no insurance areas covered by Imagine are harmful to economic activity (e.g. monopolistic), people (e.g. refrain from covering chronically ill patients) and environment (e.g. insuring oil and mining companies of bad environmental record).
In charity area, The Color Run Lausanne partners with Make a Wish. This is consistent with company's commendable record in charity, as shown above. (No specific records are given, as far as existing literature is available, on exact donations made in Lausanne based on Post Race Donation, Embedded Giving, and Charity Registrations schemas as shown above.
4.2. MEDIA COVERAGE
The Color Run Lausanne has clearly captured substantial media attention over years. This is reflected in coverage by major news and photo agencies, including as shown below, by Getty Images. Thus, in addition to media sponsors listed on company's corporate website, Getty Images coverage in 2015 (which includes a broad collection by agency and individual contributors) further highlights significance of running events by The Color Run Lausanne. This media attention is projected to be sustained in 2017.
Figure 1. The Color Run Lausanne, September 12, 2015 (Coffrini, 2015)
4.3. COMMUNITY IMPLICATIONS
Although running activities by The Color Run Lausanne has not seen, so far, visible criticism for "festive" behavior, lessons can be drawn from running activities organized in different countries namely, USA. Typically, The Color Run running activities involve color sparing and noise (if close to high density residential areas). In Ypsilanti, MI, USA, The Color Run running activities appeared to have angered local residents who flooded social media with claims about health hazards of used colors as well as unacceptable reveling behavior (Anderson, n.d.). In response, a local of Ypsilanti, MI launched a petition to city council in order to save The Color Run in Ypsilanti, MI:
The anti color run folks want you to believe that this event, held on a single day for just a few hours is a huge inconvenience to the city and to traffic. They claim that residents are blocked from leaving or entering their houses To use this as the main reason to boycott the Color Run is selfish and absurd. They also are perpetuating lies that the dyes are toxic and are polluting our water and wildlife(Anderson)
This petition has not, apparently, received enough attention to gather momentum. Still, resistance of The Color Run Lausanne events is expected, particularly on environmental basis or, if carried out in "quiet" or rural areas, which might not particularly disrupt everyday life but could anger local communities, particularly if partying and drinking activities are, according to Anderson, too "messy and loud". Thus, in order to better cater for local community needs, specific precaution s might be required, as is discussed in next section, in order to ensure The Color Run Lausanne activities are run smoothly.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS
There are some areas in The Color Run Lausanne practice which needs to be properly addressed in order to ensure ha more sustainable performance over long run and to balance out different stakeholder needs and interests. These areas are: sponsorship, organization and local community. The following sums up what The Color Run Lausanne should consider for and which strategies might be adopted:
Sponsorship. As noted above, The Color Run Lausanne's current sponsorship portfolio needs to be carefully reviewed. Specifically, business practices of partner sponsors should be carefully scrutinized not only based on economic basis but, more importantly, on ethical ones. To do so, The Color Run Lausanne can review products and services offered by existing and potential sponsors via sponsor publications, consumer reports and local chambers of commerce. This should ensure The Color Run Lausanne's sponsorship partnerships cater for economic, social and environmental needs of different stakeholders.
Organization. Likewise, organizers should be scrutinized for business activity. As noted above, The Color Run Lausanne's current organizer, Image, should be scrutinized for insurance practice. This should not be necessarily an expert review, as in an audit committee report. Instead, The Color Run Lausanne is recommended to consult as much stakeholders influenced by insurance activities of Image and, for that matter, any current or future organizer.
Local Community. In light of Ypsilanti, MI's case discussed above, The Color Run Lausanne is recommended to carefully select areas designated for planned color runs. This should ensure The Color Run Lausanne would not experience future complaints, if not lawsuits, by local community members.
REFERENCES
A Propos. (n.d.). Lausanne, Olympic Capital [Online]. Available from: http://www.lausanne-tourisme.ch/en/infos/lausanne-tourisme/a-propos.html [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
About. (n.d.). The Color Run [Online]. Available from: http://thecolorrun.com/about/ [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
About Us. (n.d.). Calypso Watches [Online]. Available from: http://www.calypso-watch.com/en/about-us/ [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
Anderson, K. (n.d.). Save the Ypsilanti Color Run. Change [Online]. Available from: https://www.change.org/p/heather-sobbry-save-the-ypsilanti-color-run [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
Charity. (n.d.). The Color Run [Online]. Available from: http://thecolorrun.com/charity/ [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
Coffrini, F. (2015, September 12). People Participate in the Annual Color Run After Party on September 12, 2015 in Lausanne. Getty Images. Available from: http://www.gettyimages.fr [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
Dey, A., LaGuardia, P., & Srinivasan, M. (2011). Building sustainability in logistics operations: a research agenda. Management Research Review [Online] 34(11), p. 1237 – 1259. Emerald Insight. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01409171111178774 [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
Partnership (n.d.). The Color Run [Online]. Available from: http://thecolorrun.com/partnership/ [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
Profile of the Coop Group. (n.d.). Coop [Online]. Available from: http://www.coop.ch/en/about-us/company.html [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
The Color Run Lausanne. (2011-2017). The Color Run Lausanne [Online]. Available from: http://thecolorrun.ch/locations/lausanne/?lang=en [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
The Color Run Switzerland. (2016, January 26). The Color Run Lausanne 2015. YouTube. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJFsCdzUUEo [Accessed: 13th January, 2017]
