The Behobia: San Sebastian Race—Promoting Sport, Health and the Quality of Community Life

Abstract

Fortuna Sports Club (FSC) is a fourth-sector organisation located in San Sebastián (Basque Country, Spain). It organizes the race between Behobia and San Sebastián. The promotion of healthy lifestyles among the participants is one of the main concerns of the organisers. This social marketing aim seems to have been met. To prepare for the race, participants alter aspects of their lifestyle linked to health. In terms of the traditional perspective of Quality of Life (QOL), FSC increases runner’s well-being. FSC is also concerned about other social marketing goals related to social changes. The “50/50/25 Programme”, that aims to achieve parity between female and male participants in the race, or the work carried out to make it easier for people with physical disabilities to take part in the race are aspects that stand out in a fun run, organised by a non-profit sports club, that considers sport to be a tool that can also be used to improve the health and quality of life of its fellow citizens. Indeed, the social marketing perspective is in the DNA of the FSC and QOL marketing philosophy is fully included in it: customer well-being is complemented preserving society’s well-being.

Teaching Notes

• 1. The OECD has a project called the “Better Life Initiative”. You can visit it at http://www.oecd.org/statistics/better-life-initiative.htm. You will see that the general framework established by the OECD to measure people’s well-being, progress and quality of life has 11 basic dimensions (http://www.oecd.org/statistics/measuring-well-being-and-progress.htm)

  Which of them is this case related to? (Fig. 11.5)

  Of the 11 dimensions of the quality of life, we think that Fortuna Sports Club is working, through the Behobia-San Sebastián race, on the following:

  • Health (more physical activity by runners, improvement in self-rated health status, lower consumption of cigarettes and alcohol, healthier eating habits…).

  • Environmental Quality (Sustainability certification for the race, raising awareness among the runners and the population about the environmental impact of the race…).

  • Civil engagement (support for humanitarian causes, integration of groups with physical disabilities in the race, commitment to the cause to reduce the gender gap…).

• 2. Why is Fortuna a club that does social marketing and not cause-related marketing? What are their differences? Could you give an example of each?

  We encourage to read the article “A Study on the Effect of Cause-Related Marketing on the Attitude Towards the Brand: The Case of Pepsi in Spain” (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J054v11n01_08). Cause-Related Marketing is an effective tool for differentiating brands and for obtaining emotional positioning among consumers. However, an utilitarian use of this tool might be counteractive. The referenced research aims to better understand the effect of cause-related marketing on attitude towards the brand. For this purpose, Pepsi’s cause-related marketing campaigns in Spain have been analyzed. Results show that, unexpectedly, cause-related marketing campaigns might lead to adverse effects as a result of the mercantilist abuse of the concept of solidarity (Garcia-Arrizabalaga et al. 2003).

• 3. What do you think about the 50/50/25 initiative that the Fortuna Sports Club has launched? Do you think that it is realistic? Do you think that a sports club should be involved in promoting initiatives like this? Why?

  Some people might think that “the business of business is business”, which, if applied to this case, would mean that a sports organisation should be exclusively devoted to being more efficient in organising the sports events that it is concerned with.

  Other people may also think that a sports organisation is also a corporate citizen and that, like any committed citizen, it should be involved in solving the main social problems that we are concerned with.

  What lies behind this reflection process is: What is the point of sport in our society? Can we help to transform society through sport?

• 4. Bearing in mind the 11 dimensions reviewed in the first point, what other initiatives can you think of that a non-profit organisation like the Fortuna Sports Club could develop to improve the quality of life of runners and of society in general?

  The aspects regarding raising awareness about the environmental impact of the race and support for solidarity projects can definitely be improved.

  It seems to be difficult for the race to be able to act in areas such as “Income and Wealth”, “Work and Job Quality”, “Housing”, “Knowledge and Skills”, “Safety” or “Work-life balance”.

  However, there are areas such as the sphere of “Social Connections” in which it would be possible to imagine, for example, setting up networks or groups of runners who share their experiences (training, comments, concerns, ambitions…).

  Another idea that could be launched is a Behobia-San Sebastián “Third Age” race. In actual fact, versions of the Behobia-San Sebastián for children and for adolescents are held on the days before the main race.

Fig. 11.5

OECD well-being framework. Source: OECD (2020)