Event Management, Vol. 20, pp. 517–535 1525-9951/16 $60.00 + .00 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3727/152599516X14745497664433 Copyright © 2016 Cognizant, LLC. E-ISSN 1943-4308 www.cognizantcommunication.com 517 Address correspondence to Paul R. Emery, Department of Management, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia. Tel: + 61 3 94357 353; E-mail: paulem20@gmail.com the senses and help give meaning to the important people, periods, and places in life (Berridge, 2007). One such experience was the London 2012 Olympic Games, where as Moreton (2012) recalled: People were standing up to hail Mo Farah as he came around the track, and they were chanting “Go Mo! Go Mo!” They were doing a Mexican wave—but the remarkable thing was the timing. The crowd rose just ahead of him all the way Introduction To fulfill hedonistic needs of affective grati- fication, consumers search out and are prepared to pay premium prices to engage with extraordi- nary moments and memorable customer experi- ences (D. M. Carter & Rovell, 2003; Lindgreen, Vanhamme, & Beverland, 2009). These emotionally intense experiences are triggered by stimulations of CRITICAL INCIDENTS, EMOTIONS, AND VALUE-ADDED MOMENTS: THE LONDON 2012 SPECTATOR EXPERIENCE PAUL R. EMERY,* ANTHONY K. KERR,* AND RUTH M. CRABTREE† *Department of Management, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia †Department of Sport Development, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK In an increasingly complex and demanding sport event environment, spectators expect to fulfill their insatiable hedonistic needs through engaging in memorable customer experiences. However, experience creation and management suffer poor conceptualization and contextualization. Using the case study of London 2012 Olympic spectator experiences and applying a range of mixed-methods tools, this exploratory study advances the emerging research agenda on understanding the nature of critical incidents and accompanying emotions, as well as the value-added moments of a memorable hedonistic sport spectator experience. The study findings reveal the valence of critical incidents and emotions, identify when and where they occur, and suggest that spectators want to engage with a series of highly interactive and multimoments that include building, watching, being in, capturing, and sharing the moment. Determining the value-added and value-destructive drivers of memorable consumption encounters can help event managers exceed desired levels of service expectation, and facilitate the delivery of superior customer experiences. Key words: Olympics; Critical incidents; Emotions; Event experiences; Value-added moments; Spectators