The Israel Brand - Policy Paper Proposal

Does Israel need a new brand? September 2000 ushered in the start of the second Palestinian uprising (Intifada). The ensuing years of violence, and Israel's subsequent military responses, have at times drawn harsh international criticism. As a result of this ongoing conflict Israel’s global image has been tarnished. This has ignited debate within the country on how best to represent, manage and promote the image of Israel to the outside world. Since 2002 organisations ranging from the Israeli army, NGO's, academia, government agencies and the media have discussed how to improve Israeli public diplomacy efforts and recognized the need to reestablish the “Israel Brand”.

What is nation-branding? Nation-branding is still in its infancy. No basic theory has emerged among scholars. However there are examples of nations which have embarked on a “re-branding” initiative. Spain presented, to much acclaim, the MIRO based national logo at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. In contrast the United Kingdom’s 1997 launch of the controversial “COOL Britannia" campaign, was disbanded four years after its inceptions as a failure. Today the U.S., in the aftermath of its war on terror, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and reports of human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib, is suffering an onslaught with regard to her image. Debates among professionals in Washington D.C. – academia, government officials, Congress and the media – have materialized. The question of national image and public diplomacy, "soft power" versus "hard power", has become a source of controversy, and debate with no agreed upon course of action.

Nation-branding is becoming a significant contemporary issue both internationally and within Israel, as such this project is being conducted under the auspices of the Hartog School of Government and Policy at Tel Aviv University, to further develop and promote debate on this topic.

Project structure: The first phase of developing an action plan for re-branding Israel would require structuring a comprehensive theoretical framework for Nation-Branding and possible mechanisms for shifting perceptions in the global arena. The methodology would include:
Scanning and integrating professional literature and case histories from the various fields of diplomacy, public diplomacy, marketing communications and branding.
Amassing and analyzing all public data on Israel's global image
Conducting a comparative study between Israel and other nations confronting the issue of image enhancement.
Interviewing key local policy makers and professionals in the government, academia and business sectors.

The second phase will focus on brand-building imperatives. This includes: Defining the brand identity system, brand value proposition, brand persona and brand positioning.
Providing suggestions on how best to implement the new brand identity on a global or glocal scale and lastly ideas on how to manage the brand system.

Dissemination and policy advocacy: The conclusions of this paper would serve as a relevant source for Israeli government policy-makers tackling the issue of Nation-Branding, and those seeking to enhance the country's global image. Once the study is complete the school will host a workshop to deliberate it's findings.

Research Timeline: Twelve months for draft report in Hebrew. The policy paper will then be translated into English and presented at a workshop under the auspices of the School of Government and Policy at the Tel-Aviv University.

Report Author: Rommey Hassman, MBA is a marketing communications strategist and consultant to leading officials, corporations and organizations in the government, non-government and business sectors in Israel. Hassman is a graduate of the School of Economics and School of Business Administration at the Hebrew University. He formerly served as the director of the strategic research & planning departments at Gitam/BBDO and Fogel-Levine/O&M advertising agencies and as coordinator of the advertising studies department at the Tel Aviv Business College.

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