Correspondence: Eli Avraham, Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 31905, Israel. E-mail: eavraham@com.haifa.ac.il

¹is a senior lecturer (equivalent to an associate professor in the United States) in the Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Israel. He has published numerous articles on place image and branding in professional journals and is the author of several award-winning books. His most recent book is Media strategies for marketing places in crises: Improving the image of cities, countries and tourist destinations (2008; Butterworth Heinemann).

Received 17 June 2009; Revised 17 June 2009.

Abstract

Marketing and branding of countries, as mentioned in the theoretical and professional literature, is not an easy challenge; this challenge is even more daunting when a certain country has been the subject of prolonged negative media coverage focusing on wars, terror and violence. Using the multistep model for altering place image, this article sets out to analyze strategies used to restore Israel's positive image. The analysis of Israel's image and its marketing efforts can help us better understand how marketers manage nation branding and marketing efforts during prolonged crises and constant conflict. This article is based on a close analysis of dozens of advertisements, public relations (PR) campaigns, press releases, academic and popular articles, news articles, interviews and websites of Israel's government departments and Jewish organizations. The analysis shows that over the years, the nation's marketers used three kinds of strategies: focusing on the source, on the message and on the target audience. The article also evaluates the employment of these various strategies used by Israel's marketers over the years.