For fans of The Brand Education Podcast, we have a treat of an episode sitting its host, Zeenat Fayaz, in the interviewer hotseat. Zeenat established her brand consultancy for the higher education sector 6 years ago, where she is now Director of Brand Strategy and partners with renowned HE institutions around the world - listening to their needs and guiding them to achieve growth through strategic brand evolution.

Zeenat's background in HE branding and business development, from Times Higher Education through to freelance consulting, has given her a deep understanding of the sector. In this conversation, Zeenat joins Victoria and Tami to discuss her journey building a consultancy in a tough industry - one that has a legacy of centuries, but its understanding of the discipline and value of branding is in its infancy.

Together they examine how vanity metrics take different forms across sectors - from Times rankings to Cannes Lions nominations, creative is often invested in for the awards and accolades, rather than to execute a brand strategy - so how can we pull brands out of this competitive churn?

Zeenat speaks about hosting brand philosopher Marty Neumeier. She also references Pangaia and Ogilvy, Alchemy by Rory Sutherland, and the magnificent Emily Osborne and Jo Lowe from The Brand Education Advisory Board.

Listen to The Brand Education podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-brand-education-podcast/id1614215391

Thank you to Zeenat for joining us for this episode, and to our season 1 podcast partner, Next Level Recruitment, who you can contact here on their website: https://www.nextlevelrecruitment.co.uk/