It's a cynical world. "Israel's advertising scene consists of people who think the sun shines out of their ass," snorts a veteran publicist. "The human mix that makes up this world is absolute, and limited. You won't find many new immigrants, Arabs or other minorities, and for good reason. They can't make inroads into the industry," our outspoken luminary adds. But publicist-cum-entrepreneur Jawad Mabjish, 26, is the exception that attests to the rule. With sensitivity and grit, he's broken through the walls surrounding the niche, refusing to allow the nay-sayers to stand in his way. Not that it's easy. "I could feel slighted and become embittered. Or I could look the other way and go on," he says in his soft voice. "At this stage of my life, my career is so important to me that I refuse to allow prejudices to get in my way."
Mabjish was born in Nazareth to a small Arab-Christian family. His parents, teachers by profession, believe strongly in education. In the early 1990s, when he was in fourth grade, they decided to leave Israel for Miami and try their luck there. The three children went to school while the mother Hala taught at university and the father \Rida opened a supermarket. After four years, the family wanted to go home: They missed their relatives and friends. But the years that Mabjish spent in the U.S. opened his eyes. Back in Nazareth, in high school, he was fluent in English and found his re-assimilation tough going.
At 18, he began to study computer engineering at the Technion University in Haifa, and found himself mixing easily into what he calls "the general sector" (meaning, he explains, everyone - Arabs, Jews, religious, everyone.) After he'd been at the Technion for one year, the university opened a new department for interactive communications. Mabjish leaped and completed his studies with distinction.
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"The year was 2002. Interactive advertising wasn't as strong as it is today. In the Arab sector, it was really in its infancy," says Mabjish. "I was the only one who could do the work in the sector."
Mabjish moves to Tel Aviv
Ayoub, one of the big advertising agencies in the Arab sector, opened the first interactive department in the sector and placed Mabjish at its head. At first he was happy but before long, he began to feel frustrated. "I didn't have anybody to learn from," he explains. "I wanted to grow and there wasn't anywhere to go."
Surprisingly perhaps, his decision to move to the Big City of Tel Aviv was an easy one. "The north [of Israel] isn't the U.S., and Tel Aviv for me was a little like returning to the States," Mabjish explains. "I didn't want to be just another Arab 'creative' working with small, niche accounts. I wanted to do big things, and big things pass through [Israel's] center."
Happily, his resume rolled into the hands of Doron Tal, chief executive of Ideologic, the interactive department of Publicis. "It was at the start of the boom," Tal recalls. "Suddenly everybody wanted to advertise on the Internet. We needed a lot of people. I got this resume with this weird name and understood this was a young guy with many years of experience. That was precious at the time. I said to myself, it's time to hire somebody who doesn't have the usual profile."
When Mabjish showed up for the interview, Tal deliberately decided not to go easy on him. "It was important that he understand it wouldn't be easy here," Tal explains. "That at first people would raise eyebrows and be wary, then they'd laugh at him and play pranks. I told him that the more they did that, the more he'd know he'd become part of the family."
Despite his different background, in no time Mabjish was the star of the show. On his birthday, the office printed stickers "I love Jawad."
"They were my friends, my family, my whole world," he says. "Naturally I went home to visit Nazareth a lot, but after a couple of days I'd start to miss Tel Aviv."
Does an Arab in Tel Aviv encounter much difficulty?
"Of course," Mabjish says. "I can't rent an apartment without a Jewish friend signing a guarantee. I've often thought that if I had a Jewish name, I'd have an easier time of it, but I don't dwell on it. I can't change reality so instead of being hurt, I ignore it and race on."
"It isn't easy being an Arab Israeli in Tel Aviv, because we're turds," says Tal in response. "That's the truth. My relationship with Jawad opened my eyes: the prejudice, the unwarranted fear. It's a lot harder for him to make it, and the fact that it's happening speaks all the more to his credit."
Mabjish spent five years at Ideologic and at its sister company Saatchi & Saatchi Interactive. He won the Golden Cactus award as creative manager, and created campaigns for huge companies in Israel such as Coca-Cola Israel, Procter & Gamble's Israel branch and Hewlett Packard. And six months ago, he felt ready to take the next step.
The coming of Feestook
The next step was to open a company of his own, called Feestook Creative Shop ("Pistachio"), which takes outsourced jobs from other advertising companies. Typically, the idea was creative.
"Interactive advertising companies often take on more jobs than they can handle and start to farm them out," he explains. "There are a lot of freelancers who can do the work, but they don't always have the commitment and professionalism that's needed. I decided to open an office that would provide a total package of outsourcing services, including creative and execution. Instead of opening just another agency fighting over external clients, I help ad companies handle their workload."
Tal: "When you reach the point of needing to supply work to a client and not being able to do so, your pressure rises sky-high. It's tough to find external people who can do it at the level and quality that the office demands - after all, the office has to deliver the job to the client in its own name."
Mabjish's experience, his familiarity with key people and the hundreds of e-mails that he sent out to everybody and their iguana brought him enough work to move beyond the tiny office he rented, and to hire two more people. "I was sure that for the first half year I'd have to live on my savings," he says. "But I'm already making money."
His parents are rather less enthused. "They'd prefer to have me near, but they haven't been hard on me," Mabjish says. "When I set up Feestook, they didn't understand why I'd leave a good job, and waste my savings on it. They thought it would be better if I wed. But I'm married to my career."
What happens when the politics comes up?
"I have my personal opinion, and it stays with me."
What does an Arab in Tel Aviv do on Israel's independence day?
"Barbecue with friends, of course. Not because it's independence day - because it's a holiday."
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