ABSTRACT
21st century brands are not just using digital media and technology as communication tools, instead the enabling functions of digital technology are having a fundamental impact on organisational form. Many new organisations exist solely in an online format, and traditional organisational structures and models are being challenged and changed in response to new and different digital opportunities and challenges. This is a fundamental, structural shift, which has significant implications for the relationship between organisations and stakeholders, and which goes beyond the use of digitally enabled communications techniques to influence, engage and interact. This chapter builds on Boltanski and Chiapello’s (2007) notion of a profoundly new organisational type – the projective city – and considers the public relations activities and challenges of organisations which have embraced the digital world, to understand how online and projective brands are developing their sense of corporate character and narrative in a way which is authentic to stakeholders.
