Emerson Rigby Israel Ltd was founded by Ido Aharoni in 2016. It is based in Israel as an investment and business development consultancy. Much of the work they do is based on helping various locations build a brand. Aharoni is positioned for that — he has been doing it to some extent or another for years. During his time in the Israeli foreign service, Aharoni was a diplomacy expert and then started the Brand Israel program — his official start to branding locations.
Speaking about that idea, a post on the company's Facebook page said that, "Our national narrative must be true, authentic, compelling, attractive, and relevant at the same time. The narrative must not shy away from any problems, such as crime, geo-political strife, ethnic tension, etc."
In recent posts, the firm has covered location branding for Las Vegas, Scotland, Malaysia, Ukraine, and Nigeria. They have also covered the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles and concepts about the global market in relation to location branding. The agency continues that work with locations other than Israel, but it all began with Aharoni's efforts beginning in 2006 when he introduced methods for branding a location and positioning strategies focused on helping public diplomacy.
Aharoni, speaking about national branding, said: "No place, no person, no organization, wishes to be solely defined by its problems. Every place has a DNA, a personality, just like a human being."
Emerson Rigby also offers help and expertise regarding technology issues, diplomacy, and social media efforts — connecting them to goals of clients and how to build businesses. It is not all just about creating a public policy narrative, but there is that as well.
Ido Aharoni
While in the foreign service, Aharoni became an Ambassador — the longest serving Consul-General in New York City and throughout the tri-state area. His six years in that office had him watching over worldwide diplomacy for Israel. Beyond his work for Israel and Emerson Rigby, he serves on the International Advisory Board of APCO Worldwide. He is also a Professor at New York University's School of International Relations in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Global Distinguished Professor.
In the past Aharoni was also a board member of DS-Apex IPO Inc., a financial company based in Israel. He was in the foreign service for 25 years, beginning in 1991 and leaving in 2016.
Update — June 2026
Emerson Rigby and Ido Aharoni's nation-branding playbook now sit inside a much larger Israeli communications environment that EPR has documented across the 2025–2026 period. Israel uses AI more intensely than any country on earth — and the gap between that usage and Israel's structural visibility inside the engines has become the defining communications question for the country. The full picture below.
Related EPR Coverage — Israeli PR & Communications
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
