[BRIEF NOTE] On country branding
Nov. 12th, 2009 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThis Globe and Mail article says something interesting, not least about a culture planner's missed assumption.
The thing is, if you rebrand a country the rebranding is triggered by a radical change. Spain was able to transform its international reputation from that of "repressive fascist society" to "thriving post-modern multicultural territory" because Spain actually made that transition from Franco, while Estonia's image likewise shifted from "poor Soviet successor state" to "E-Stonia" because it similarly made that transition from Soviet Socialist Republic. Neither of those identity transformations would have been possible if Spain was run by barely-rebranded Francoists, or Estonia a Belarus-style Communist state. It's even possible for country's brands to deteriorate: witness Serbia, at one point the thriving multicultural nucleus of a decent enough Yugoslavia federation, over the 1990s transformed into a petty state run by gangsters and ethnic cleansers.
Does Israel have many positive assets which could be used in a rebranding campaign? Certainly. Will these assets be particularly meaningful if Israel's more negative traits--say, discriminatory marriage laws, the social exclusion inflicted on Arabs within and without Israel proper, the militarism--don't disappear? (You know that the previous is a rhetorical question, right?)
Imagine this dilemma: You're Israel's highest-ranking public relations expert. The world's news coverage, which shapes public opinion, is at best neutral and more typically hostile to Israel.
Is there a way to change the subject – to associate Israel with something besides tanks and checkpoints? A country afflicted with warts, perhaps, but also rich in culture and high-tech innovations? Other nations and cities have successfully engaged in similar rebranding exercises. Could Israel? And if so, where should it begin?
That was the strategic exercise Amir Gissin undertook three years ago, as director of public affairs at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.
Three years later, he's Israel's consul-general for Toronto – the city he chose as the pilot project for rebranding.
That Toronto is now Ground Zero of the Middle East's global propaganda war is not surprising. One of the most important cities on the continent, it's a microcosmic blend of American and European influences, as well as the country's multicultural, financial and media centre, with three large university campuses and a robust Jewish community.
Toronto was an ideal choice for other reasons: It's home to some of Israel's harshest critics – among them, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the United Church of Canada, both of which have championed the Palestinian-led Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and a noisy coterie of left-wingers in academia and the arts, many of whom, including Naomi Klein, are Jewish.
And the city boasts a growing Muslim population of 350,000, twice the number of Jews. “The Muslims on Toronto campuses are more politically active than was their parents' generation,” notes Ryerson University professor Judy Rebick, a frequent critic of Israeli policies. “There's lots of energy. Remember, they grew up here. They're Canadian. They feel a sense of entitlement as citizens. They're more savvy.”
The thing is, if you rebrand a country the rebranding is triggered by a radical change. Spain was able to transform its international reputation from that of "repressive fascist society" to "thriving post-modern multicultural territory" because Spain actually made that transition from Franco, while Estonia's image likewise shifted from "poor Soviet successor state" to "E-Stonia" because it similarly made that transition from Soviet Socialist Republic. Neither of those identity transformations would have been possible if Spain was run by barely-rebranded Francoists, or Estonia a Belarus-style Communist state. It's even possible for country's brands to deteriorate: witness Serbia, at one point the thriving multicultural nucleus of a decent enough Yugoslavia federation, over the 1990s transformed into a petty state run by gangsters and ethnic cleansers.
Does Israel have many positive assets which could be used in a rebranding campaign? Certainly. Will these assets be particularly meaningful if Israel's more negative traits--say, discriminatory marriage laws, the social exclusion inflicted on Arabs within and without Israel proper, the militarism--don't disappear? (You know that the previous is a rhetorical question, right?)
