Israel Government Advertising Agency

LAPAM operates as a communications group for government ministries, statutory corporations, government-owned companies, and public bodies, producing dozens of marketing initiatives each year, including public and social campaigns.[3] Its work combines advertising strategy, research, graphic design, printing, and media purchasing across television, radio, print, and digital channels.[1] It also handles legally required government notices, particularly notices published in print newspapers.[1]

The agency's institutional purpose includes using the government's purchasing scale to reduce advertising costs and overseeing advertising content to prevent unnecessary or unlawful publications and politically biased advertising.[5] Its full-service model encompasses both professional advice and campaign implementation, while commissioning ministries retain the final decision about where their campaigns appear.[4][6]

Domestic public communication and overseas tourism promotion form distinct parts of its work.[3][4] The latter includes campaigns across markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, supported by a combination of in-house digital work and external media services.[4]

An August 1998 government decision called for LAPAM's closure and the transfer of government advertising services to private-sector procurement.[5] Following a committee review, a September 1999 decision reversed that policy and continued LAPAM as a business enterprise.[5] The revised arrangement directed the agency to concentrate on centralized media purchasing and the purchase of other advertising services, while reducing services performed directly by its own staff.[5] From 2003, its permitted clients were restricted to government ministries and specified non-business statutory bodies and government companies.[5]

LAPAM was treated as a business enterprise under the Budget Foundations Law, with the expectation that it would operate as a closed-budget unit financed by income from its services.[5] Responsibility for the agency was transferred from the Prime Minister's Office to the Ministry of Information and Diaspora in May 2009.[5]

By 2008, its work included campaigns and communications for the Tourism, Transport, Immigrant Absorption, and Justice ministries and the Prime Minister's Office, alongside public bodies including universities, the National Insurance Institute, and the Bank of Israel.[7] Projects associated with the agency at that time included the gov.il portal, Israel's sixtieth-anniversary celebrations, an initiative to return equipment to the IDF, and National Road Safety Authority campaigns.[7]

In 2011, LAPAM had approximately 50 permanent employees, supplemented by freelancers hired through tenders and external production companies for some work.[8] Its annual operating costs were reported at about NIS 18 million, and government ministries were then required to place their advertising through LAPAM under an Accountant General's instruction.[8] A separate 2018 account put its workforce at 100 and described extensive production of public-service announcements.[9]

Moriah Shalom, then chief executive of the newspaper Makor Rishon, was selected to lead LAPAM in 2022 after a selection committee recommended her appointment.[10]

Campaign development begins with the Research and Strategy department, which conducts market research and surveys, develops strategy, and measures effectiveness after campaigns have concluded.[11] The agency's other services include account management, media planning and buying, digital services, creative work, and in-house production of commercial and social content.[11] Campaign management extends from conception through execution, combining platforms and media channels around a client's brand and advertising message.[2]

Its professional work includes preparing messages and producing newspaper advertisements, radio and television spots, internet advertising, and billboards, as well as conveying messages to news media.[5] Historically documented internal units included liaison with government offices, advertisements and tenders, film production, computer design, creative work, administration, operations, and accounting.[5]

Media purchasing is a central function: LAPAM specializes in planning and buying media for government offices to obtain competitive prices and conditions, with benefits provided by media vendors transferred directly to clients.[11] It also employs creative and media agencies abroad for international planning and purchasing.[11] Its in-house digital department manages most of its online advertising abroad; external global media services sought in a government tender were primarily intended for offline media, although LAPAM retained discretion to perform those services itself, wholly or partly.[4]

A 2024 description of its operating arrangements identified clients including the IDF, police, and universities, as well as ministries.[6] Media recommendations were based on professional and economic criteria including audience fit, content, reach, market share, and cost per exposure, with the commissioning ministry making the final placement decision.[6] The agency's stated public-law obligations included loyalty, transparency, equality, and reasonableness under administrative law, Justice Ministry guidance, and case law.[6]

Statutory notices constitute a separate category from advertising campaigns.[6] Some notices, such as planning and construction announcements, can carry publication requirements that include placement in at least two newspapers, one of them in Arabic.[6]

A Water Authority campaign described in 2008 used the message “Israel is turning from red to black,” beginning with a teaser and later featuring actor Renana Raz.[7] The eventual concept was developed by outside strategic consultant Moti Saraf after LAPAM had initially proposed a more humorous creative direction.[7] Director-general Nathan Meir acknowledged that the campaign should have appeared earlier, explaining that LAPAM had warned the ministry and minister but that consultations with advisers and the arrival of funding had taken time.[7]

A December 2018 Ministry of Economy campaign promoted the employment of workers with disabilities under the title “Employing workers with disabilities benefits everyone.”[12] Its accompanying message was “Commitment to society is everyone’s gain.”[12]

For the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, LAPAM produced a Ministry of Defense campaign launched in September 2023.[13] Titled “Fifty Years Since the Yom Kippur War,” it was classified within the agency's army and security campaign theme.[13]

LAPAM has handled the Ministry of Tourism's global advertising account since 2005, carrying out advertising and other marketing activities to promote travel to Israel in destination countries.[4] The ministry's overseas advertising activities through a global media agency were estimated at approximately €50 million annually in 2017–2019; that estimate concerned the ministry's overseas advertising, not LAPAM's overall budget.[4]

For the six months ending December 31, 2021, U.S. foreign-agent reporting listed the Ministry of Tourism as a foreign principal represented through LAPAM by Media Planning International Corporation.[14] The work involved media planning and buying to promote tourism through television, magazines and newspapers, digital advertising, and social media.[14] The entry listed $71,647.06 for the registrant's six-month reporting period, an amount associated with the registrant and foreign principal rather than a LAPAM budget figure.[14]

The corresponding report covering the six months ending June 30, 2024, connected Havas Media Group USA LLC with the Ministry of Tourism through LAPAM.[15] It classified the services as “Media Production,” reported no activities, and listed $2,951,745.43 for the registrant's six-month period ending April 30, 2024.[15] The entry did not detail LAPAM's specific role or identify that sum as its budget.[15]

The report for the six months ending June 30, 2025, again identified the ministry as acting through LAPAM in the Havas entry.[16] It described the services as “Media Production,” reported no activities or finances for that entry, and did not elaborate on LAPAM's role.[16]

LAPAM's Israeli media budget amounted to NIS 175.5 million in 2013, NIS 159 million in 2014, and NIS 170 million in 2015.[17] These figures covered media suppliers only, excluding VAT, handling fees, overseas tourism budgets, and other advertising costs such as research, production, and strategy.[17] Television accounted for 39%, 35%, and 40% of the respective annual totals, while internet advertising accounted for 19%, 23%, and 21%.[17]

In 2013, Arabic-language advertising represented approximately 37% of the media budget allocated to specific sectors, but about 3.3% of the total Israeli media budget.[17] The agency's explanation connected those proportions to the limited availability of Arabic-language media, lower advertising prices in those media, and campaigns whose intended audiences did not include Arabic speakers.[17] The figures measured advertising in Arabic, rather than ownership of the outlets carrying it.[17]

Reported advertising expenditure reached NIS 245 million in 2022, the highest total in the preceding five years.[1] Television accounted for NIS 96 million, or 39%; digital advertising for NIS 83 million, or 34%; radio for approximately NIS 29 million, or 12%; print newspapers for NIS 26 million, or 11%; and billboards for approximately NIS 11 million, or 4%.[1] Advertising directed at Arab society received NIS 15 million, or 6% of the overall total, while advertising directed at Haredi society received NIS 9.5 million, or 4%.[1]

A 2024 Calcalist account, citing Knesset research, put 2023 expenditure across television, print, digital, cinema, radio, and billboards at approximately NIS 186.5 million.[6]

LAPAM combines centralized public-sector media purchasing with the development and production of government messages.[5][11] Its portfolio encompasses practical public-service communication, social inclusion, national commemoration, and the promotion of tourism to Israel.[7][12] The combination of in-house production and external suppliers allows it to operate across domestic media and international advertising markets.[4][11]

Its institutional identity also appears in national cataloging: the government advertising agency is classified under “Israel, Prime Minister's Office” in an institutional directory entry.[18] That classification identifies an institutional association rather than describing the agency's functions.[18]

A historical audit found that LAPAM had not adequately fulfilled its cost-saving and content-oversight aims during the period reviewed.[5] Findings included insufficient efforts to secure savings, failure to prevent some advertisements promoting political and senior public officials, services supplied outside permitted client categories, and inadequate supervision.[5] The audit also identified uncertainty over whether LAPAM was treated strictly as a ministry unit or, in practice, as a ministry-affiliated body with separate authority.[5]

Concern about personal political promotion resurfaced in 2018 over publicly funded advertisements featuring ministers.[9] The applicable criteria permitted ministers to appear in radio advertisements for public events while barring their photographs from newspaper advertisements.[9] A media-monitoring survey cited at the time put ministry spending on radio, print, and online advertising since May 2015 at NIS 142 million, not a LAPAM budget total.[9]

A 2020 Health Ministry advertisement for Tu B'av portrayed coronavirus as “Covid, Cupid’s step-brother,” an angel from Wuhan, and included a “Made in China” line.[19] Following a Chinese embassy complaint, the ministry removed the video from Facebook, and it was subsequently made private on LAPAM's YouTube page.[19]

MK Yonatan Mishraki criticized the 2022 allocations to Arab and Haredi audiences as insufficient.[1] LAPAM responded that campaign goals, audiences, client budgets, and media-consumption research shaped allocations, and announced professional examination of community size, media cost, and reach.[1]