Birthright Israel Campaign: One Trip Changes Everything
The Challenge
For more than 25 years, Birthright Israel has allowed young Jews to experience Israel firsthand.
But today, that experience carries new urgency.
These kids are growing up in a world of increasing antisemitism, conflicting narratives about Israel, and questions about what being Jewish means to them.
Birthright needed a campaign that could capture why sending the next generation to Israel matters now more than ever.
The answer wasn’t really about the trip. It was about who comes home.
The Strategy
We focused on what happens after Birthright.
Kids leave for Israel with questions. They come back with a stronger sense of who they are, a deeper connection to Israel and the Jewish people, and a firsthand understanding of a country and region they’ve spent their lives hearing about from everyone else.
That transformation became the strategy.
Creative Platform
One Trip Changes Everything.
The line captures the disproportionate impact of a single experience.
One trip can strengthen Jewish identity. Challenge assumptions. Give young Jews greater confidence to confront antisemitism and misinformation. One trip can turn Israel from a debate topic into a real place filled with real people.
Execution
Brand Platform
“One Trip Changes Everything” is a campaign platform that lives everywhere Birthright Israel Foundation communicates. We redesigned all the brand assets so every fundraiser feels like the website, which feels like the social, which sounds like the videos which influence the appearences made by the CEO on MSNBC.
Campaign Films
Each execution takes things young Jews are hearing about through social media, the news, politics, history or religion and contrasts it with the experience of actually being there.
The campaign doesn’t tell anyone what to think. It shows the value of going there and thinking for yourself.
Fundraising Idea Built to Travel
“One Trip Changes Everything” was designed to work across Birthright Israel Foundation’s fundraising communications.
The trip may be free for the young adults who take it. But it sure ain’t free.
Every trip depends on donors who believe that giving the next generation of Jews a firsthand experience of Israel is an investment worth making.
The platform gives Birthright a simple way to explain exactly what that investment can change.
Results
“One Trip Changes Everything” has become a central message for Birthright Israel Foundation as it enters its next generation. The Jewish community loves it. The board loves it. The fundraisers love it. Because the donors love it.
Nearly one million young Jewish adults have participated in Birthright Israel since the program began. The Foundation reports that 85% of alumni consider the experience life-changing, 84% are raising their children Jewish, and alumni are twice as likely to feel very connected to Israel.
Why It Worked
Because it’s true.
The campaign speaks directly to what Jews are feeling and experiencing right now.
Antisemitism is growing. Israel is debated constantly. Young Jews are surrounded by people telling them what Israel is, what Zionism means and what they should think about the Middle East.
A Birthright trip gives them something more valuable than another opinion. It gives them firsthand experience. They see Israel for themselves. They meet the people. They learn the history. They confront the complexity. They decide what being Jewish and having a relationship with Israel means to them.
A million TikTok opinions can’t replace actually being there. And for donors, that makes the case for Birthright remarkably simple.
The trip is free. The impact is priceless. (Sorry, MasterCard.)
Jamie-Lynn Sigler talks with Jonah Platt about how she went on Birthright when she finished filming The Sopranos.
About Division of Labor
Division of Labor is a San Francisco advertising agency specializing in campaigns that find the simplest, most powerful truth inside complicated organizations.
We help startups, challenger brands and mission-driven organizations turn what they do into an idea people can understand, remember and act on. For Birthright Israel Foundation, that idea came down to four words: One Trip Changes Everything.
These two print ads ran side-by-side in the newspaper.
Yes, Jews still read newspapers.
Birthright billboard in Times Square.
Campaign Overview
Birthright Israel Foundation partnered with Division of Labor to create “One Trip Changes Everything,” a fundraising and brand platform communicating the lasting impact of sending young Jewish adults on a free trip to Israel. Through campaign films including “One trip changes the meaning of the word Zionist,” “One trip shows what the news doesn’t,” and “One trip puts that whole Moses story into context,” the campaign makes the case for giving young Jews something increasingly rare: the opportunity to experience Israel firsthand and decide for themselves what it means to them.
