Anzac Day Challenge: Improving Lives Of Ex-Servicemen

Overview of the Anzac Day Challenge event

Discuss about the Case Study Report on Event Of Anzac Day Challenge.

The Anzac Day Challenge is an event that is organized on a yearly basis by Mountains Sports Australia. This year, the event was held on 28 April. It took place in St. Ives, New South Wales and the run kicked off from the Warringal War Memorial Park. The primary aim of the event was to raise funds to help ‘Soldier On’ to provide valuable support services to service men and women who are in need of assistance. It is substantial to note that the Soldier On program is about members of the Australian community uniting hands to show their support and solidarity towards the psychologically and physically wounded. The program’s goal is to enhance recovery, empower the wounded and inspire the community by giving former servicemen the dignity they deserve and the chance to live a normal life. Therefore, the event was an important event that aimed at improving the lives of the people who dedicated their time and lives in service to their country. Notably, the event was massively advertised across media to increase the awareness of the public about the event. The main platforms that were used to advertise the program included televisions, radios, newspapers, and posters among others. In a bid to attract a bigger audience, the organizing company invited executive members of the government as the guest of honor. In addition, this was intended to help raise a large amount of money during the fundraising and in ticket sales. By and large, the event attracted many people from across the country who showed up in support of the Soldier On initiative. Aside from the financial aspects of the event, it also aimed at creating awareness about the plight of ex-servicemen and improving the physical fitness of those who took part in the run. As a whole, one may argue that the event was successful as it was able to achieve all its social, environmental, and financial objectives. 

As noted before, the event’s main objective was to mobilize and raise funds for soldiers in the country. However, aside from the financial goals, it has social and environmental objectives. Specifically, it aimed at creating a social awareness about the problems faced by soldiers in the country. In addition, it aimed at promoting healthy living through healthy running and jogging. It is substantial to note that the event was able to achieve most of its financial, social and environmental objectives, and was therefore sustainable.

Achieving Social and Environmental Objectives

For a long time, sustainability has been mentioned as a goal of many organizations, both profit, non-profit and government businesses. However, measuring the degrees of sustainability is a very difficult task. Therefore, the Tripple Bottom Line framework is used to determine the sustainability of events and projects (Hede, 2007). Specifically, the approach goes beyond the conventional measures of return on investments, shareholder value and profits to include the social and environmental dimensions of an event (Thomas and Bowdin, 2012). Thus, it focuses on the comprehensive investment results of the event by taking into consideration the dimensions of the three P’s, that is profits, people and the planet (Slaper and Hall, n.d). In this regard, this section seeks to analyze the success of the Anzac Day Challenge using the TBL approach.  

It is imperative to note that the event was successful in achieving its financial goals. The event aimed at raising over $200,000 to support soldiers within Australia who were suffering from either physical or psychological problems after their service in the country’s army (The Anzac  Day Challenge, 2018). It is worth noting that the event was able to surpass this financial goal because by the end of the event, it had raised an amount over and above the target amount (The Anzac Day Challenge, 2018).  Therefore in this regard, the event was a success in achieving its primary financial goal.

Aside from the financial objectives, the event aimed at creating a social awareness about the plight of the country’s servicemen. Therefore, it intended to gather Australians together in order to show their support for the physically and psychologically wounded soldiers within the country (The Anzac Day Challenge, 2018).  It is imperative to point out that by the end of the event, those who took part in the event were enlightened about the problems facing the soldiers and why the support of the community is important. It also created awareness about the problems and challenges that soldiers undergo. Additionally, the event was able to bring together people from across the country to show support, care and solidarity to the course (The Anzac Day Challenge, 2018).  . What is more, the event was able to create a platform for people to engage in healthy activities such as jogging and running. As a result, the event was able to promote and encourage healthy lifestyles among the Australian people.  Therefore, it was able to achieve social cohesion and enhance the support to the country’s soldiers. In this respect, one may argue that the event was able to fulfill its social objectives.

Using Triple Bottom Line approach framework to analyze sustainability of event

It is worth noting that the event brought about various impacts to the community in which the event was held. Specifically, these impacts can be classified in terms of economic, environmental, and socio-cultural.

By and large, the event had massive economic impacts to the local community. Mainly, this is because the event brought about individuals from all over the country to the region to raise funds for the course. The influx of people to the region led to a promotion of many small businesses in the area as precipitants purchased basic products such as water, energy drinks and snacks from the local businesspeople who were opened on the day. In turn, this led to an increase in the level of business conducted in the region on that day, thereby promoting the economic status of the people as well as enhancing the economic activities in the local community.

 However, the event also had negative economic impacts to the society. Despite the promotion of the local businesses, the massive influx of people into the region caused a traffic jam. As such, the traffic in the region was at a standstill since most of the roads in the area were being used for the event. As a result, those people who had no intention of taking part in the Anzac Day Challenge was inconvenienced as they could not use the road to go about on their own business in other areas. What is more, the event attracted people from all backgrounds and some individuals had divergent interests. As a result, some of the participants at the event were victims of petty theft, as their phones and personal effects were stolen during the activity. Luckily, there were no major security threats encountered during the event and there no major harm caused to the public.

Aside from the economic impacts, the event also had significant social impacts. First, the event led to the promotion of social awareness about the challenges and problems faced by the servicemen within the Australian community.  In addition, it brought together people from all over the country to participate in the activity. As a result, people from different backgrounds across the country were able come together and interact. As a result, the marathon led to an increase in the degree of cohesion among the Australian people (Aggett and Busby 2011). Furthermore, the activity had a great impact in promoting the culture of physical fitness among the participants through running and other healthy activities. In this regard, therefore, the Anzac Day Challenge had significant positive social impacts to the Australian community.

Economic, Environmental, and Socio-Cultural Impacts of the Event

It is imperative to point out that the event did not explicitly set out to meet any environmental objectives. As such, the planning organization did not mention any willingness to achieve positive results relating to the environment by the end of the activity. In addition, there were no noticeable environmental impacts that were brought about as a result of the event.

Recommendations on achieving objectives

It is very impressive that the organization was able to achieve its main objective of raising more than $200,000 for the course. However, the organization may implement various recommendations to the event planning process in the future events so as to achieve even better results in forthcoming events that it may organize. First, the organizing firm should also print t-shirts, umbrellas, pens and balls for sale during the activity. By selling these items to participants, the organization will be able to raise extra funds from the activity apart from just the money raised through selling tickets for the run. In doing so, the firm will be able to raise more funds from the event as people would buy more products in support of the course.

Secondly, with respect to the achievement of the social objectives of the event, the organizer should include more activities in the itinerary so as to attract more people into the event. As such, the event should consist of other fun activities such as entertainment, dancing and musicals to offer alternative activities for those who cannot take part in the marathon. This way, they will have something fun to do as they wait for the run to come to a completion. It is worth noting that such activities would increase the level of social interactions between the participants. In addition, it would enhance sharing of ideas as to how the community can help solve or reduce the challenges that soldiers encounter after many years of service. In so doing, the event would have achieved more than one social objective from the activities of the day.

As noted above, the event had significant social and economical impacts to the society. As regards to the economic impacts of the event, the organizing company could ensure that the event results in more business activities in the region. As such, it could partner with local businesses such as restaurants, café and beverage stores, and catering companies to provide their services during the event. This way, the needs of the participants will be satisfied while at the same time the local entrepreneurs businesses will be promoted. Furthermore, this study recommends that the organizer of the event should also take the environment into consideration when planning for the activities. As noted, there were no positive environmental impacts arising from the event. To change this, the firm may liaise with the local community to ensure that the environment is protected and remains clean before, during and after the event.

As regards to the social impacts of the business, this study recommends that the organizer provides more learning opportunities during the event as to importance of both mental and physical health. Predominantly, this is because mental health has become a common problem among members of the society yet very few people know about this fact. As a result, people within the society suffer from mental health and fail to get help from their family members. Soldiers for example, suffer from Post Traumatic Disorders after deployment and when they do not get the help they require, it may be detrimental to their overall well being. In this respect, the event could fill this knowledge gap in the society by bringing in experts to enlighten the people as to the importance of mental health.

Conclusion

All in all, all factors taken into consideration, the Anzac Day Marathon played an important role. Its main course was noble and aimed at improving the status of the men and women who dedicate to serve their country as soldiers. In addition, it played an important role in creating awareness of the problems and challenges that these service men and women face after deployment. Therefore, the funds raised from the event will go a long way in improving the lives of these soldiers through the Soldier On initiative. As a whole, the event was successful in achieving and fulfilling its social and economical objectives.

Reference List

Aggett, M. and Busby, G. (2011). Opting out of internship: Perceptions of hospitality, tourism and events management undergraduates at a British university. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education (Pre-2012), 10(1), p.106.

Hede, A. (2007). Managing special events in the new era of the triple bottom line. Event Management, 11(1), pp.13-20

Slaper, T. F. (2017). The Triple Bottom Line: What Is It and How Does It Work?. [Online] Indiana Business Review.  Available at: https://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2011/spring/article2.html [Accessed 21 May. 2018].

The Anzac Day Challenge. (2018). Fundraising.  [Online] Available at: https://www.anzacdaychallenge.com.au/biganzac/fundraising [Accessed 21 May. 2018].

Thomas, R. and Bowdin, G.  (2012). Events management: state of the art. Selected papers from the Global Events Congress IV, Leeds, England, UK, 14-16 July 2010. Event Management, 16(2), pp.103-187.