Measuring City Brand Authenticity Based on Evidence from Social Networks: Case of Almaty

Abstract

The research paper has several objectives including conducting a thorough literature review to outline the existing models for measuring brand authenticity with particular focus on destination branding; selecting a suitable model(s) to be applied to the assessment of city brand authenticity; and performing a case study analysis of the brand of Almaty, Kazakhstan, based on a content analysis of social network(s) dedicated to the city brand. The majority of extant studies on brand authenticity focus on exploring authenticity within particular industries or in relation to products with less attention being devoted to the authenticity of destination brands. This study is unique in its attempt to apply brand authenticity measurement models to the specific context of Almaty as an emerging destination brand. A content analysis was conducted on data from ten Instagram pages dedicated to Almaty, following established theories on brand authenticity. One hundred posts were analyzed from each reviewed account. Each post was studied for the presence of specific cues derived from the selected theoretical models. The analysis showed that the direction on which to build the brand identity of Almaty has not been determined yet. Still, based on the presence of specific cues derived from the selected theoretical models including the four dimensions of brand authenticity proposed by Bruhn et al. and Anholt’s City Brand Hexagon model, analysis performed on selected Instagram accounts dedicated to Almaty city shows that Almaty has a potential of building an authentic brand.