The Brand Judaism Imperative: Actions speak louder than words.

In today’s hyper-connected world, brands wield significant influence. According to an Ipsos survey conducted on August 5th, 77% of Americans view messages from brands favorably, compared to just 48% for personalities/ influencers and 50% for politicians and journalists. This statistic underscores a critical insight: brands, when aligned with positive actions, can drive significant change in public perception. So, using the basic principles of branding and marketing as we have posited to build and rally behind Brand Judaism, we can create a halo effect on Brand Israel to reshape their brand images and leverage Brand Judaism to counter rising antisemitism through strategic actions and messaging while building together the longer-term plan to regain the next generation.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Brand messaging is effective only when backed by authentic behavior and tangible positive actions. This synergy can shift negative sentiments, engage indifferent audiences, and reinforce positive perceptions. The recent political turnaround and sudden unification experienced by the Democrats illustrates this point. Kamala Harris, who now leads Donald Trump 46 to 43 in the polls per a poll released yesterday by University of Massachusetts Amherst gained 7 points on the same poll in January for Biden overtaking Trump, it also shows significant support increases from independents, moderate voters, and young voters aged 18-29. Her rise in popularity is partially attributed to the feelings Kamala elicits—compassionate, likable, energetic, hardworking, moderate, and intelligent in stark contrast to Trump who is seen as strong, patriotic and experienced.

Similarly, recent studies in May by Pew have shown the continuing fall of Bibi overall in the US in terms of support.   His fall off the cliff from last year to this among 18–29-year-olds is a dramatic 28% percent increase in non -support driven by a 20% increase in his awareness. Clearly this underscores that his actions are driving what is happening on college campuses and even among Gen Alpha.  So, it is no wonder his speech did not shift the needle even though some pundits did agree it had power. The negative feelings were simply too powerful to listen and hear a message that may have motivated them differently immediately post 10/7.
All of these precipitous shifts in support exemplify how quickly public and consumer sentiment can change when strategic actions resonate with the right feelings and behaviors, Case in point: Just yesterday, Kamala’s action –to choose Tim Waltz, a moderate, middle aged, christian man from rural America as her number two. This is the perfect and expected narrative and action for what the democratic party stands for a powerful woman of mixed race supported by a white male and not the other way around. Whether you are a democrat or a republican, we can certainly agree that this is a powerful symbol that unifies a narrative that the party can agree on despite differences in policies.

Lessons for Brand Judaism

Clearly, these recent cases in point and polling further demonstrate what Brand Judaism desperately needs to combat the rise in antisemitism and polarization on college campuses and in the greater public forum of opinion. This involves a long-term strategy complemented by impactful short-term actions. Just as political strategists have unified the Democratic Party, Brand Judaism needs a cohesive plan to realign and strengthen its image.

Small Actions with Big Impact

Brand turnarounds often result from small actions grounded in insights underscoring the longer-term plan that appeal to a broad audience. These strategic activations  can shift behavior and inspire change. For example, our “Don’t Hate Debate Platform” initiative leverages the symbolic power of competitive sports to model and to foster civil discourse and mutual understanding among students on macro and micro issues on how to engage civilly to progress.  This initiative is powerful because it is grounded in the insight that this is an everyone problem and also intersects with Judaism: that dialogue and debate is at the cornerstone of Judaism. That Judaism has survived and thrived when people debate, listen and actually hear each other civilly. Again, Don’t Hate Debate is a property and platform that is just ONE example of the types of actions needed to rebuild Brand Judaism in a tentpole strategy while we build the long-term plan for the next generation which is colossal. This involves as importantly creating a comprehensive blueprint and roadmap, engaging experts in change management and working to align the Jewish non-profit world and Jews alike. Similar to how the Democrats unified their party, Brand Judaism must foster unity and cooperation through actions and words. To give provide the halo to everyone that we can unite behind no matter if we are republican or democrat, young or old, Zionistic or not.

In an increasingly polarized world that Ipsos polling this week found people perceived worse than ever across the globe, the division about Israel, even in Isarel.,  calls for a greater need for Jews to unite behind the positive values of Brand Judaism however we work together to define it and execute it.  Clearly aligning strategic actions by organizing and  leveraging the innovative work such as 10/7  and positive grassroots actions spearheaded by many Gen Z focused organizations : ICC, Hillel, Stand With Us, Chabad, End Jew Hatred, Six Point Media. not to mention the Influencers and so many more are but small examples of grassroots activism and influence combined with technology platforms and even audience specific messaging led by Jew Belong. This is beginning to happen. So how these are combined and leveraged  in a tentpole with the support of messaging and platforms that are proactive not reactive by audience, tested and pushed out by all would support, Brand Judaism and begin to counter negative perceptions, reduce antisemitism, and foster a culture of understanding and respect.

Clearly this alignment depends on  organizations new and old to agreed that we need to agree to a long term commitment to  organizational change management, processes and frameworks, grounded in our own productive discussion to get to an agreed blueprint by audience and action that inspires a shift from fear to hope, from division to unity, and from fear or silence  to collective action combined with short term optimization of existing initiatives.  It is NOT a race of who comes up with the Big Idea or Overarching Messaging immediately. Let us galvanize the Jewish community to unite and build a future grounded in hope, energy, and work together on a strategic approach to uniting Jews and to appealing to non-Jews alike with a message that pays that off.