We use data-led science to inform strategy & campaigns

UNIVERSITIES AND HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ARE PLACES OF BRILLIANCE AND INSPIRATION. HOWEVER, FEW OF THEM FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW BRANDING CAN ENHANCE REPUTATION AND RECRUITMENT.
Which is where the Brand Education comes in. Working closely with university leaders, we help define their institution’s purpose through transformative, long-term thinking. And we use data-led science to create informed brand strategy and focused campaigns.

Who we are
-
Zeenat Fayaz
Brand & Strategy Director
Zeenat brings incisive strategic thinking and decisive leadership qualities to The Brand Education. As a brand manager for QS and Times Higher Education, she gained invaluable understanding of how universities are ranked and evaluated — and how they can take steps to improve this. Today, she helps top-tier universities understand the power of branding and use this to enhance their reputations.
-
Emma Stone
Academic Recruitment & Development
-
James Brown
Academic Recruitment & Talent Management
-
Karen Mendoza
Performance Director, Media Analytics
-
Zainab Fayaz
Marketing & Strategy Director
-
Nima Falatoori
Creative Director
Zeenat brings incisive strategic thinking and decisive leadership qualities to The Brand Education. As a brand manager for QS and Times Higher Education, she gained invaluable understanding of how universities are ranked and evaluated — and how they can take steps to improve this. Today, she helps top-tier universities understand the power of branding and use this to enhance their reputations.
Emma brings 30 years’ experience of human resource management and organizational development to the Brand Education. After early years in corporate HR, she moved to the University of Cambridge, working in several senior roles, including Director for five years, dealing with academic recruitment, leadership development, remuneration strategy, diversity and inclusion. More recently, she took up the position of Advisor to the Vice Chancellor at the founding university of the UAE.
James gives us specialist expertise in higher-education talent management Most recently, he worked with United Arab Emirates University, creating a new talent sourcing and professional development strategy. Before that, he was Assistant Head of Office at the University of Cambridge’s Postdoc Academy, which developed a sector-leading approach to nurturing researchers and academics in their early careers.
Karen brings strong analytical skills, and great experience of campaign optimization and reporting to The Brand Education. She’s previously worked with huge global brands including adidas and Reebok on multi-market campaigns, as well as on HE clients, government, banking and tech. Karen is a Facebook-certified buying and planning professional, and is also certified in Google Ads Search & Display and Google Analytics.
For the past decade, Zainab has been directing impactful brand campaigns in Europe, the US and the Middle East, working across a wide range of verticals in education. Astute and informed, she heads our global strategy and marketing department, helping us understand complex audiences and address the finer points of brand positioning.
Nima is the Brand Education’s branding guru. He previously worked with the legendary Wally Olins at Saffron Brand Consultants, where he forged a career producing clear, effective, and memorable design solutions in brand identity and strategic communications. He’s since worked extensively on HE branding projects for clients including King’s College London and University of Northampton.
FOR UNIVERSITIES AND HIGHER-EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, REPUTATION AND RECRUITMENT GO HAND IN HAND. WE WORK WITH LEADERSHIP TEAMS TO IMPROVE BOTH. RADICALLY.
When it comes to reputation, we’re like a pair of prescription glasses, helping universities focus on what’s important, using strategic scanning to define, develop and achieve institutional change, goals and objectives. With recruitment, we help to create a virtuous circle, with the best academics attracting the best students. This, in turn, leads to better academic reputation, rankings metrics and brand perception. Win-win.
