Comment

Comment by Alan 'Brand' Williamson on March 16, 2010 at 5:17am

What do you do when your country brand's in trouble?
Paul, Max, thanks for highlighting the 'Re-branding of Israel' issue.

Here's a scenario for when a country brand is in trouble. You could either hunker down in your bunker, or you could bring out your sub-brands - regions, cities and resorts - that are not strongly associated with the country brand - not on the world map - but in the mind map of your target audience.

Then look for your country's big brand idea in the very cultural conflict that's at the source of your tarnished reputation - in Israel's case: Israeli vs Arabs - because chances are that's where your future-focused big brand idea lies hidden.

As it's St Patrick's Day this week, consider 'The Troubles' of Northern Ireland and see if you can find its big brand idea within the Republican vs Unionist cultural conflict? Check this short video out Brand Ireland - the clue is in one of the first frames.

Comment by Paul Barnett on March 14, 2010 at 7:15am

Max, Thanks for posting the Israeli article. In addition I would add that via friends that have been there I know it to be a cool place and would be interested to visit at some point. But, there are many places I would like to visit and if I have to make choices I have to admit that there are several negative images of Israel in my mind, and these would put me off. Perhaps more inportantly, no media campaign is likely to change my mind. Perhaps more word of mouth comments from people I trust would. So I think the writer is correct to say that first-hand relationships following a visit are important, but I think the ´second hand relationships´ that are established by word of mouth, are also very important.

Comment by Paul Barnett on March 14, 2010 at 7:04am

Rafa,

Re the language, it is not that there are technical problems in the language, more the style of the way the language is used. This is a usual problem with copy such as this, just technical translation is not really sufficient. It is better than a lot I have seen, which can frequently be full of technical errors too. But, it seems to me that the spend on such a campaign would be very little more to get it absolutely right.

Comment by Max Pesling on March 13, 2010 at 9:09pm

While doing some research, I happened to come across the following re Israel branding in The Jerusalem Post. Interesting reading!

Re-branding Israel? If only I could...
By Ron Friedman 2 Feb. 2010

"In today’s media environment, we don’t have the time to make a good argument," laments the diplomat who is battling to change the int’l perception of militaristic Israel.

With most of the talks at the annual Israel Tourism Conference in Tel Aviv focusing on innovation and creativity, there was a feeling of optimism in the air, especially with the recent announcement of record numbers of incoming tourists in the beginning of 2010. Then Ido Aharoni took to the podium and put everything into proportion.

Aharoni is the head of the Foreign Ministry’s brand management team and his message to the tourism professionals on Wednesday was straightforward: the world’s perception of Israel is completely dominated by the Arab-Israeli conflict, and even if people back Israel ideologically, it doesn’t translate into a positive image.

For now, the brand called Israel is still associated with war and occupation.

For the past two-and-a-half years, Aharoni has had the Herculean task of re-branding Israel. His goal: to change outsiders’ perception of Israel as a militaristic and conservative country into something closer to how Israelis see themselves – “largely sababa (cool).”

Aharoni showed a short video that illustrated perfectly what he was talking about. In the clip, a survey group of adult Americans chosen at random were asked to perform a free association exercise. The group was asked to describe what houses representing different countries would look and feel like. While the Italian house drew comments like “warm,” “welcoming” and “festive,” when asked to describe the Israeli house, the responses were far different.

“Big gates and bars on the windows,” said one man. “Mostly cement, no lawn, no garden,” said another. One woman said that she thought she wouldn’t be welcomed in the Israeli house. “It’s very Orthodox with a strict vibe about it,” she said. An African-American man said he thought he wouldn’t be accepted there because of his skin color.

“They weren’t describing a house, they were describing a fortified bunker,” said Aharoni.

He said that for 60 years Israel has been presenting itself through hasbara (public diplomacy), trying to convince decision-makers and the public that Israel is in the right and backing it up with historic, legal and moral facts. That’s well and good and it might make them favor Israel in polls or on election day, said Aharoni, but what it also does is cement in people’s minds the notion of Israel as a country in conflict. These people are potential tourists, but they tire of the debate before they ever get here and see firsthand that what they hear in the news is not reflective of reality.

“Tourism is a cardinal element of building relations between a consumer and a place, because it provides firsthand experience,” said Aharoni. “I was recently in Amsterdam for the first time and I now have a personal relationship with Holland. And it has nothing to do with the Dutch government’s policies. We [in Israel] never bothered to make those connections.”

Israel’s brand troubles grew from the gap between the high quality product that it offers and the low image it has, he said. “That gap not only carries an economic burden, but also weighs Israel down in its marketing efforts and in the effectiveness of its foreign policy.”


Putting up a photo of an Israeli tank confronting a Palestinian youth throwing a stone, Aharoni said that hasbara’s job is to convince people that the tank is the victim.

“Given enough time I can make a good argument that that is actually the case, but in today’s media environment, we don’t have the time. We have about three seconds to grasp a viewer’s attention and that, unfortunately, doesn’t allow enough time for presenting the facts. When we continue to try, it inevitably fails and that’s bad because it leaves the picture of the tank and the child in sight and harms the Israeli brand.”

Aharoni said that even if hasbara is successful at changing people’s minds about the conflict, it doesn’t help with tourism. “Political support doesn’t translate into consumer affinity. There is a disconnect between the emotional and the rational. In the modern age it is no less important to be attractive than it is to be in the right.”

Comment by Rafa Luque on March 11, 2010 at 2:45am

Alan,
I've not time enough to double check this but I think the "A Country to Share" campaign is a Social Media action.
And yes, "we need you"... and many like you :)

Paul,
Obviously, I'm not a native English speaker but I'll be glad to know those details you mentioned. I missed them :(.

Comment by Paul Barnett on March 10, 2010 at 8:42pm

The spain project looks interesting andI will look at in more detail soon. Initial impressions are: Some interesting use of tech, nice graphics, Like Alan I don´t see the relationship between the two messages if there is intended to be one, execution could be better in terms of details, especially the language - would have been good to get a native English speaker to edit, which does not seem to have happened.

Comment by Alan 'Brand' Williamson on March 10, 2010 at 5:24pm

Rafa, thanks for the heads up on Spain's newest marketing campaign. Much appreciated.

Is there a relationship between the 'I Need Spain' campaign and 'Spain: A Country to Share' ?

Here's an extract of what I said on my Twitter blog: 'I Need Spain'. Translation: 'Spain Needs Me'

Comment by Rafa Luque on March 10, 2010 at 4:39pm

New Spain's marketing campaign, with a new claim (I need Spain). Drop you here a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ68EQSaU4E
A Country to Share http://www.spainacountrytoshare.com/
I like it!

Comment by Alan 'Brand' Williamson on March 9, 2010 at 2:13pm

The Googles
Britain's Best Street Brands as voted for in Google's Street View Awards 2010

Birds of a feather flock together - with a little help from a destination brand developer and their property developer friends.

Comment by Paul Barnett on March 7, 2010 at 9:59am

Korea Sparkling - BlandTrashtic for sure!! And "Your Singapore" is a bore for sure. Will it be followed by Your America, Your Australia, Your Holland?

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