Event marketing in the socio-cultural, socio-communicative and economic life of the digitalised city

Abstract

This article offers an interdisciplinary analysis of event marketing as a pivotal factor in the socio-economic dynamics of the digitalised city. The authors approach events not merely as promotional tools but as complex urban mechanisms that synchronise market, cultural and communicative flows. In this context, brand communication is conceptualised as symbolic investment in the urban fabric. Event marketing has emerged as a strategic asset in urban development, wherein physical infrastructure, algorithmic services and semiotic landscapes converge into a unified ecosystem of experience. The analysis highlights the potential of event mechanics as a tool for recalibrating urban branding: through the emotional coding of space and the symbolic reinterpretation of urban landscapes, new perceptions of place attractiveness are generated. Events materialise brand identity within the city’s spatiality, transforming performativity into a catalyst for the production of social capital and local identity. Enabled by digital technologies, events transcend linear temporality, extending their lifecycle from pre-event announcements to post-event participatory phases, including the collective remixing of content. The convergence of offline environments with online platforms fosters networked synergy and extends audience geographies without proportionate increases in expenditure. The article demonstrates that the proliferation of cloud services and sensor-based infrastructures fosters an environment where each event simultaneously functions as a commercial product and a social ritual. Events are thus positioned as urban instruments capable of reshaping spatial practices, consumption routes and symbolic orders. Digital platforms reconfigure the event experience into a seamless sequence of interactions, wherein big data analytics enable emotionally precise targeting, and hybrid formats dissolve spatial boundaries. At the core of this transformation lies the mutual conversion of diverse forms of capital—economic, cultural, social and symbolic – circulating among organisers, participants and the broader urban infrastructure.