Welcome
2019 was an exciting year here at Vibe Israel, full of new beginnings! After the extensive research and strategy-building process we conducted with Bloom Consulting in the second half of 2018, this year was all about putting things into motion, and laying the groundwork for our 5-year plan and core projects. Since this required an extensive internal reorganization, both at Vibe Israel’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, and at Vibe Israel USA’s office, we took the first half of the year to regroup, and after the Summer, we were back in full force!
With three Vibe Tours, establishing the Vibe Israel Academy and planning for a Summit in partnership with the Jewish Federations of North America in March 2020, as well as the first ever Branding Israel Awards we held in Jerusalem in January 2020, not to mention welcoming a new President & CEO to Vibe Israel USA – we ended the year reinvigorated and ready to start a new decade!
Greetings
Richard N. Bernstein
Chairman of Board of Directors
Greetings from Vibe Israel USA!
2019 was a year of great progress for our US operations. Working with our Board of Directors, we brought on a new CEO to focus on expanding our financial resources and implementing our plan for US expansion. Together, we aim to raise the profile of Vibe Israel’s mission to change perceptions of Israel throughout the US, working with a variety of stakeholders and partners.
Much of this past year was dedicated to developing the Vibe Israel Academy, an educational tool to train our partners how to share our vision of Israel with their young adult stakeholders. We are looking forward to our first ever Storytelling Israel Summit, in partnership with Jewish Federations of North America, UJA-New York Federation, and the Lisa Stone Pritzker Family Foundation.
Vibe Israel is lucky to have a dedicated group of donors and partners who support our work. Their vision and commitment to changing the way Israel is perceived by the next generation is truly inspiring. We thank all of you, our supporters, for sharing the vision of Vibe Israel.
We look forward to an even more successful 2020!
Richard N. Bernstein, Chairman of Board of Directors
Joanna Landau
Founder & CEO, Vibe Israel
Steve Jobs once said “If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you”. I’ve been pulled by my vision to change the way people think and feel about Israel, for the last 10 years now. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and I won’t stop running until that change can be felt, deeply.
In 2018, we decided that it’s time to scale up our work to the national level by developing a multi-year strategic work plan to brand and market Israel to the world, especially to the next generation. So what if we’re not the government? So what if our means are limited? We have to start somewhere - the vision pulled us. 2019 was a reboot year for us, as we expanded Vibe Israel’s HQ in Tel Aviv to be able to take on new programming, and ushered in a new President & CEO for Vibe Israel USA, under whose leadership I am sure we will soar to new heights. I am most proud of the fact we were invited by President Rivlin to present our research highlights and Israel Brand Narratives Book this year, and that we are working with his team on a very exciting project to be launched in April, 2020 – stay tuned!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our donors, large and small, for your support and encouragement as we stride towards achieving our vision to energize and inspire the next generation about Israel. I would also like to thank our incredible Board of Directors who were steadfast in their support and commitment as we made these necessary changes, and remain so today. I am deeply grateful for all of you and wish us all the start of an amazing decade!
Joanna
Becca Hurowitz
President & CEO, Vibe Israel USA
In the summer of 2019, a colleague asked me to join a call to learn about an organization called Vibe Israel. I was immediately struck by their unique approach to changing the way people think about Israel, especially to the next generations. Little did I know, that call started the exciting process of joining the Vibe Israel team as CEO of Vibe Israel USA.
As a long-time Jewish communal professional and lover of Israel, I have grown increasingly concerned about the way Israel is viewed – incorrectly, in my opinion – by so many young adults in America and worldwide. I truly believe that our work at Vibe Israel – the Vibe Israel Academy, our soon-to-be-launched online toolkit, our influencer tours, and all of our other upcoming initiatives – can change that global perception and show the world the best Israel has to offer. I am deeply grateful to the donors and partners who support our work and share our vision. I’m thrilled to be a part of this vibrant organization and looking forward to many shared successes in 2020.
Becca
Press
How do you say awesome in Spanish? Our Vibe Comida tour members talked all about their adventure to i24news
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Can we Finance nation branding through philanthropy? Joanna Landau, Vibe Israel's founder and CEO, in a short interview (English)
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How do millennials view Israel? How can we make it one of the 10 best countries in the world? Vibe Israel's founder and CEO, Joanna Landau spoke to ILTV (English)
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Is the world against us or is it just indifferent? Ynet News write all about our innovative approach to sharing Israel's story (English)
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#VibeFood influencers explore the Machne Yehuda Market with the wonderful chef Tali Friedman
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Haaretz on Millennials and their opinions of Israel based on our new research
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Jewish News meets Joanna Landau: Woman on a mission to show Israel to the world!
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Vibe Israel's CEO Joanna Landau on Cracking the Millennial Code
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A wonderful article presenting Vibe Israel's solution to Israel's global image problem
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Vibe Israel presented their study about Millenial's perceptions of Israel to President Reuven Rivlin
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Vibe Tours
Our year of FOOD! We hosted 3 food tours this year with 16 digital influencers from 6 countries (USA, Canada, Chile, Sweden, Australia and the UK), and a potential reach of 4.5 Million followers.
"I went on my first tour...in 2017, and I absolutely fell in love with the country and its people. Contrary to what I previously thought, Israel is incredibly diverse, tolerant, and um… COOL. The food scene is amazing, the people are kind, and the country is beautiful. "
Sarah Crawford @bromabakery
"If you are wondering what the most vegan-friendly country in the word is then the answer is very simple: Israel! With a vegan population of over 5% and a huge amount of dishes that are naturally vegan, this is a herbivore paradise!"
Philipp Ertl @exceedinglyvegan
"I didn’t think it was possible to fall so deeply in love with a country until I came back from Israel. Going to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv was simply life changing. Most noteworthy, where to eat in Israel.."
Diala Canelo @dialaskitchen
You know you’re doing something right when your guests stop at a tattoo parlor to imprint their experience for longevity, before going home!
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We started working this year with a new system to evaluate the reach and engagement of our tours, which is how we know we generated 3.5 million positive posts about Israel in 2019. This system also calculates the approximate worth of such posts, which of course we did not pay for, but have a value of $350,000 per tour, more than seven times the amount invested in a Vibe Tour!
2020, look out! We are pulling out all the stops this year with a tour almost every month. Stay tuned for our third tour of the year in the third week of March, #VibeAllstars – Some of our favorite influencers from previous tours, coming back for more and sharing it with their 3.7 million followers!
The Vibe Israel Academy
We believe Israel has an inspiring story to tell, but the world – especially young people – don’t know it. The Vibe Israel Academy is our new department dedicated to training Israel’s stakeholders how to effectively tell and share Israel’s story to the next generation. We hope to share the our knowledge and experience about how to inspire young people about Israel with others who are engaging the next generation with Israel.
We spent 2019 reaching out to potential partners and researching their needs around Israel engagement, so we can provide them with the most effective tools. We aim to build a network of 10,000 Israel Brand Ambassadors – people who talk about Israel publicly in their daily work, such as athletes, business people, artists and cultural icons, leadership and Israel educators across the Jewish Diaspora and pro-Israel community, Israeli government ministers, ambassadors and staff, and more.
Israel Brand Narratives Book
In February 2019 we published our Israel Brand Narratives Book, sharing the way we believe Israel’s story should be told. This book was presented to and endorsed by President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin.
Global Research on Perceptions of Israel
In November 2019, we repeated the global research we did in 2018, confirming our initial conclusions that young people can be interested in Israel but the over-emphasis on the Conflict and Religion is keeping them away.
Preparing to Launch the Academy
As a first stage in establishing the Vibe Israel Academy, we conducted a series of workshops and one-on-one interviews with Jewish leadership in North America and the UK, and private sector opinion leaders in Israel. The purpose of this exercise was to gather insights as to what current resources are available to these audiences to tell Israel’s story, since we will be launching a digital toolbox in 2020 with a series of resources and advice on how to effectively tell and share Israel’s story to the next generation. Thank you to all of you who participated in our research!
Introducing the (New) Brand of Israel at City Nation Place
In November, we presented our strategy and vision at the prestigious City Nation Place Global Conference, which takes place every year in London and convenes professionals from all over the world that manage their place brands.
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Vibe Israel Joint Initiative with President Rivlin’s Office
This year, we had the honor of collaborating with President Reuven Rivlin’s office. Vibe Israel was invited to manage, develop, produce and maintain a year-long exhibition at Ben Gurion Airport in 2020-2021 which will be based on the messaging and vision of the President’s flagship program, “Israeli Hope”. This program aims to strengthen statehood and establish a partnership between the sectors that comprise Israeli society. The vision of Israeli Hope mirrors Vibe Israel’s narratives, celebrating the cultural diversity in Israel. The Exhibition will be viewed by 20 million people who go through the Airport yearly, as well as millions more via an accompanying digital campaign.
For detailed financial information, click here for our latest Report 990.
For more information, please contact Becca Hurowitz at rebeccah@vibeisrael.com.