Еnhancing city identity through digital metaphors

City branding is a discipline focused on unveiling the unique character of cities and enhancing their visibility, identity, and cultural impact. In recent years, cities have been exploring new methods to promote themselves and attract more visitors. This has led stakeholders and those involved in city branding to find new pathways to create “a new identifiable image” of the city (Riza et al. 2012), making it an attractive destination (Kotler & Gertner 2002). With the rise of digital technologies and globalization, the possibilities for city branding have significantly increased. In the digital era, many cities that pivoted from traditional models of branding have succeeded in renewing their identity using digital media and the incorporation of digital metaphors in their branding campaigns. As a result, many cities have managed to rebrand and refashion their identity. This paper aims to explore how cities are represented in digital media and which digital metaphors are used to attract a younger, more technologically savvy audience. Through a multimodal framework, I will analyze the recent branding campaign of the city of Thessaloniki to identify how digital metaphors are used and their impact on younger audiences.