In the 2020 WZO elections, a Torah-based party, Eretz HaKodesh, ran for the first time, in a bid to wrest control of the WZO’s enormous budget and influence from the non-Orthodox parties that traditionally governed it. They approached us to run their marketing campaign to spread awareness and encourage the frum community to vote.
Most of the Yeshivish Orthodox community felt very dissociated from the WZO and did not see this election campaign as having anything to do with them or even being something appropriate for them to participate in. We needed to run an intensive awareness campaign to educate the public about the importance of having significant participation of a Torah party in the WZO.
We developed the marketing strategy, theme and concept, and produced all campaign marketing material including ads, emails and brochures.
We decided to emphasize two key points in our messaging:
1. The spiritual damage already being done to the holiness of Eretz Yisrael due to the vast power of the non-Orthodox parties in the WZO.
2. The personal responsibility of every Torah Jew who cares about Eretz Yisrael to vote.
For the branding, we designed the logo to highlight the word “kodesh” in Eretz Hakodesh, emphasizing that this campaign is about the holiness of our land. We added the tagline “I vote” Eretz Hakodesh, using the individualized ‘I’ to accentuate the feeling that this is my personal responsibility.
Our marketing campaign contained the following components:
1. Educating the public about the vast resources and power commanded by the WZO
2. Featuring examples of the inroads already made by the non-Orthodox on the holiness of the land, such as the mixed prayer area by the Kosel and changes to the focus of Judaic curriculum in Israeli public schools.
3. Publicizing the haskamos of prominent rabbonim to vote for Eretz Hakodesh.
The Ticket Strategy for Personal Connection
A strong component of our marketing strategy was harnessing the power of the personal connection, getting people to commit to encouraging their friends and families to vote.
To do this, we distributed ticket books to yeshiva and seminary students, and encouraged them to hand out tickets to friends and family members as a commitment to vote.Our messaging emphasized the necessity of a critical voting mass to make a significant impact. To highlight this, we devised the idea of a website in the model of a crowdfunding site, in which people can enter their names after they vote, to feel the excitement of the accumulating number of voters for Eretz Hakodesh.
Concept and campaign logo
Campaign adverts for social media and print
Campaign banners
Voting package (box with raffle booklets, ticket book and tracking cards)
Brochure and letterhead
Email blasts
Web banners and social media statuses
The campaign was hugely successful; Eretz HaKodesh amassed over 20,000 votes, making it the third largest party in the WZO and earning it 25 seats.
Since then, we’ve continued working with Eretz HaKodesh, building their website, logo and branding. As they’ve expanded into additional projects, we’ve developed websites, brochures and marketing materials for those projects as well.