ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a particular form of marketing activity that is geared toward enhancing the well-being of the community across a broad range of dimensions. These dimensions certainly include economic health, but also encompass social development, cultural growth, and even political strength. As such, the activity would appear to qualify as social marketing in the truest sense. In traditional marketing terms, the marketing role of mega-events/at tractions would appear to relate more directly to promoting the host region than to developing a product. Promotion in this case had three major objectives: to increase awareness and knowledge of Calgary; to "legitimize" Calgary; and to create real or imagined symbols. From the perspective of "product development," the Olympics have provided a mechanism to accelerate and enhance the total infrastructure of the city, in both quantitative and qualitative terms.
