Rebranding, that trendy buzzword for an image makeover, popped up in the brouhaha over a series of Israeli films at the Toronto International Film Festival. The cinematic salute to Tel Aviv, which marked the debut of TIFF’s new City to City program, was another success in the Brand Israel campaign begun several years ago.

The strategic rationale behind the rebranding initiative was spelled out by Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Ido Aharoni when the campaign had its Toronto rollout back in March 2008: “Even those who recognize that Israel is in the right are not attracted to it, because they see it as a supplier of bad news. It is more important for Israel to be attractive than to be right.”

When you hear Paris Hilton's name, what thoughts come to mind? Spoiled rich kid, dumb blonde, or brilliant entrepreneur? Some refer to Hilton as "famous for being famous," but it's more accurate to state she is famous for being herself. Hilton branded herself the same way Mentos coined itself the "freshmaker" and Sprite declared, "image is nothing, thirst is everything." The only difference between Hilton and Sprite was that she was branding her personality as a product.