THE NEED OF AN AUTHENTIC CITY BRAND IN THE ERA OF WEB 2.0

In the contemporary world, competition among cities is continuously increasing, due to the processes of globalisation. As a consequence, city branding represents a key tool to develop the unique and distinctive features of a city, in order to start attracting tourists, companies, talents, new residents. Despite numerous efforts have been made by scholars and practitioners to get an effective understanding of this topic, there are still many failures in a city branding process. This work aims at giving a theoretical and managerial contribution for the study of city branding. Data for this research are collected through semi-structured interviews with experts in the field of city branding among three different countries. The conclusion regards a step back made by city managers to let emerge the authenticity in a branding process. In the modern scenario, where digital plays a main role, every city is marketed and sold according to the international standards: according to that, the key to succeed is to remain distinctive. Therefore, it becomes essential to define and communicate through social media an authentic city brand, represented by people and real values.