Media outlets all over the globe reported about Masbirim, many deriding the campaign. "Apparently your pamphlet says people should first listen and then talk, make eye contact, used relaxed body language - I mean, really?" said Gabay, who teaches at a major marketing school, regularly appears on British TV channels and has written 15 books about branding. "This is very serious. We live in a world of cynicism. This is producing the worst kind of [public] diplomacy," he stressed.

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For Gabay, this is "too fluffy." Rather, such a campaign should work according to his basic branding model, for which he draws the interior of an egg. The values - the white - draw their strength from its core idea, the yolk. Masbirim, Gabay contests, focuses too much on Israel's values - such as tourism, culture and science. "What is Israel about? It's not just about Bar Refaeli, as beautiful as she is," he said. "Without the central bit, all this stuff is fluff and doesn't mean anything."

Gabay proposes Israel to be more straightforward about the one issue people connect with the brand Israel - the conflict with the Palestinians. Instead of merely reacting to accusations of oppression or war crimes, Jerusalem should actively and confidently - but not arrogantly - explain why it's acting the way it does, Gabay suggests. "Treat people intelligently and they will respond. Treat people as if you're selling soap powder and people won't believe you. That's the bottom line."