Taking Israeli PR to the pros:
leyden.net
"The MFA argues that this is a positive factor as they know the US market."
Jerusalem-----October 2001......Since the below report was written, Israel's Ministry for Foreign Affairs has taken action to retain local international PR
professionals. We applaud the FM for this action. The FM has also been criticized by the Israeli media for not responding quick enough to fast breaking
news. They have also responded to this observation by having their own people serve as spokesmen 24/7.
Now the FM needs to retain local, professional crisis public relations consultants to assist them with media coaching so that their appearance
on CNN, Sky News, BBC and other media outlets appears professional and confident.
Foreign Ministry Retains Rubenstein Associates for Public Relations
Ministry Again Fails to Secure Effective Solutions - Ignores Local, Professional Israeli International Agencies
Jerusalem----July 31.....The Israeli Foreign Ministry, which is officially responsible for Israel's image, has repeatedly failed to obtain the most professional
public relations counsel and strategy for the country. In it's latest action, the MFA has retained Rubenstein Associates in New York City. Rubenstein is
one of the most professional agencies in the world and is the agency of record for which this editor transferred his New York public relations practice prior
to making Aliya.
BUT Rubenstein is 6,000 miles away from Jerusalem. The MFA argues that this is a positive factor as they know the US market. In reality - Rubenstein is
intimate with the New York City market and has little connection to the US Mid-West, South-East and West Coast, let alone the global market!
The MFA goes on the assumption that if you work in Israel - how good can you be? They are seduced by the towering skyscrapers and financial reach of
New York while ignoring some of the most professional PR consultants in their own country. Israeli public relations consultants who have proven their salt
by penetrating international markets and helping to establish the Israeli Hi-Tech industry as a global force.
It was with great hesitation that the INA has come to reveal some of the flaws of the MFA, as we do not make a policy of washing our laundry in public.
At the same time - the MFA has refused to even meet with PR professionals living and working in the same country! While other Ministries have
approached International Israeli PR firms, in desperation, as the economy of the country deepens and thousands of employed become unemployed.
The PR professionals of Israel can no longer afford the luxury or political correctness of being silent.
Take a quick look at the MFA's deeply flawed strategy. They are focusing on the colors of M-16's to tell the world media that Israel is firing rubber bullets -
while missing the forest for the trees. Israeli combat commando units are highly effective because they are small, quick moving, highly flexible,
knowledgeable of local and foreign intelligence and have the ability to respond immediately. So why not apply the same modus operandi to critical public
relations activity?
How much does Rubenstein know about Israel and the Middle-East?
Recently, the MFA had to charter a bus and take these New Yorkers to the West Bank for a day. This is in sharp contrast to the many Israeli PR pros
who know the region, Israel and the West Bank inside out from having lived here and served in military reserve service. They know the people, the
terrain, the local and foreign journalists. These Israeli PR pros are bicultural - coming from New York, London and South Africa. They know both markets,
but are still ignored by the MFA!
How can a New York based PR firm react to a real time crisis here in Israel? They can't - and by the time they do, the journalists and photographers have
filed the story they are looking for, mostly from a Palestinian perspective.
The solution to Israel's fatal and failing public relations is as follows: retain the best and most successful bicultural PR pros in Israel and use them to
coordinate a 24x7 global emergency crisis rapid response network. These professionals know the Israeli government offices, the culture, the logistics and
the foreign press corps which files the stories that appear in New York, Paris and Tokyo. The MFA is still reacting rather than be being proactive in it's
public relations approach. Why must we always be placed in a defensive posture handling damage control after the story has been printed?
The entire process begins here in Israel - not New York - and this is where Israeli media professionals should engage, becoming the intial source of
information for the international media.
This professional 24x7 emergency crisis rapid response team should then coordinate it's actions with two or three leading global PR firms which can then
localize and translate news releases and hold daily briefings in various cultures and languages.
For now we are relying upon a greatly respected but foreign PR agency which only knows the New York Yankees.
What we need are Israeli PR pros who know both Maccabi Tel Aviv and the New York Knicks.
What we critically need today are professional human resources here in Israel that are knowledgeable and equipped to respond in real-time and
coordinate media global efforts.
What we presently have is the same weak and faulty system which was asleep during and after the Dolpernarium terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv.
It was a Friday night and Israel slept as the enemy attacked and the foreign media did their job here on the ground in Israel.
It's time for us to wake up, protect Israel's image and reconstruct a devastated economy with a professional PR machine consisting of both local
and foreign talent. |
