Building the reputation of universities, worldwide.
Twenty years leading marketing, communications and data across higher education and global hospitality brands. Today I work with universities around the world on institutional performance, reputation and strategy. Keynote speaker, board leader and host of Marketing Greats in Higher Education.
years leading marketing, communications and digital
professionals led as Director of Marketing & Communications, Newcastle University
Russell Group universities convened as Chair of the Marketing & Student Recruitment Forum
return on investment from central multichannel campaigns
Marketing Greats in Higher Education
The podcast is back, rebuilt around the people shaping how universities are seen, chosen and trusted. Each week I sit down with marketing, communications and institutional leaders from around the world for honest conversations about what's working, what isn't, and what they'd do differently.
Global voices
CMOs, comms directors and vice-chancellors from every major study destination.
AI in practice
How teams are actually using AI, with the results and the mistakes.
Reputation & rankings
What really moves perception, and how leaders measure it.
Weekly, in your inbox
Every new episode and article, sent by email each week.
Season 1, 2023
Six conversations with marketing leaders from Sage, Sodexo, Kwalee and beyond. A good place to start before Season 2 lands.
Navigating the future of marketing with Sage CMO Cath Keers
AI, personalisation and why brand values still decide who wins.
02Will ChatGPT replace your partner? With Dr Amani Alabed
New research from Newcastle University on the evolving relationship between humans and AI.
03Staying ahead of the curve in HE marketing with Kyle Campbell
The trends, platforms and personalisation techniques worth your team's time.
04One billion downloads and counting with Harry Lang, Kwalee
What games marketing can teach every sector about growth at scale.
05Building a £3.5 billion brand: Heike O'Leary's masterclass
Luxury and lifestyle marketing, digitally savvy consumers and re-thinking brand strategy.
06Empowering 36 million consumers with Viktoria Otero del Val, Sodexo
Strategy, product and customer experience across 31 countries.
A marketer who believes reputation is earned in the data.
I'm Jonathan Sabarre, Principal Consultant at QS Quacquarelli Symonds. I work with universities around the world on how they perform, how they're perceived, and how to close the gap between the two.
Before QS, I was Director of Marketing and Communications at Newcastle University, leading a team of 120. Our three-year, data-led marketing strategy took the University past its international recruitment targets, and the global brand, research and reputation strategy I led drove Newcastle to its highest-ever placement in the QS World University Rankings: 110th in 2024.
My career started a long way from campus. At the Cairn Hotel Group I ran marketing across 33 hotels operating Hilton, Marriott and IHG brands, and helped grow revenue from £60M to £110M. Hospitality taught me that every interaction is the brand, and I've carried that into higher education ever since.
I'm a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and hold an MBA in Big Data Analytics. I also used to chair the Russell Group Marketing & Student Recruitment Forum, which taught me more about what collaboration can achieve than any job title.
Principal ConsultantQS Quacquarelli Symonds, global
Supporting universities worldwide with institutional performance, reputation and strategy, turning ranking and perception data into decisions leaders can act on.
Director of Marketing & CommunicationsNewcastle University
Led 120 people across marketing, communications, digital and recruitment marketing for a £750M+ Russell Group university with 29,500 students. Director of Marketing from 2019, adding communications in 2023.
Director of Digital & CommunicationsNewcastle University Students' Union
Students' Union of the Year at the North East Educate Awards, 2018 and 2019. Email engagement up 300%, election turnout doubled.
Head of Marketing, Communications & PRCairn Hotel Group
£10M+ budget, a team of 20 and 65 websites across Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn properties. Revenue grew from £60M to £110M.
Senior marketing & communications rolesGaming, events, private and not-for-profit sectors
A keynote should leave the room with something to do on Monday.
I speak the way I lead: with real data, candid stories from inside the institutions I've worked with, and practical ideas teams can use straight away. Audiences tell me they leave with energy and a plan.
The AI-enabled marketing team
How to redesign roles, workflows and reporting around AI, so people spend their time on the work only people can do.
Reputation is a performance metric
What rankings, perception and institutional data really tell you, and how to build a strategy that moves them.
From data to decisions
Analytics and visualisation that leadership teams actually use, with lessons from Newcastle and universities worldwide.
What Hilton taught me about higher education
Hospitality thinking applied to the student journey, brand consistency and conversion across the full recruitment cycle.
Collaboration as a competitive advantage
Lessons from chairing the Russell Group forum on what universities achieve when they stop working alone.
A global leader in higher education marketing & communications.
Two decades across universities and some of the world's best-known hospitality brands. The common thread is simple: understand the audience through data, then build the brand, campaign and team that reaches them.
AI-enabled teams, infrastructure & automation
I've spent years putting AI to work inside marketing and communications teams: automated reporting, personalisation at scale, AI-assisted content and the digital infrastructure underneath it. The aim is always the same, a smaller gap between insight and action, and more time for the creative and strategic work people do best.
Marketing
Led the University's first three-year, data-led marketing strategy, which beat international recruitment targets. Full UCAS cycle, Clearing included.
Reputation
Led the global brand, research and reputation strategy that drove Newcastle to its highest-ever QS World University Rankings placement, 110th in 2024. Reputation measured, managed and moved.
Communications
Strategic narratives for B2B, policy and academic audiences, internal communications and crisis training. One story, told consistently everywhere.
Data analytics & visualisation
An MBA in Big Data Analytics and years of building reporting for leadership teams. I create dashboards and insight that leaders use to decide, rather than admire.
Institutional performance & strategy
At QS I help universities worldwide understand where they stand, why, and which levers will genuinely shift performance over time.
Digital innovation
Rebuilt 65 websites in-house (sessions up 80%) and introduced CRM-led personalisation that delivered record engagement across core campaigns.
Technology expertise
HubSpot implementation and governance, Google Analytics 360, CRM and marketing automation hubs. One automated programme cut booking cancellations by 30% and lifted upgrades by 15%. I choose platforms for the outcome, then make them work hard.
Multichannel campaigns, end to end
From insight and brief through creative, media, conversion and reporting. Multimillion-pound budgets, 15:1 ROI on central campaigns, and an email database grown to 2.6 million subscribers.
Global hospitality brands
Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo and Mercure. Led five major hotel rebrands, launched The Cairn Collection (direct bookings up 35%) and sat on IHG's £30M+ EMEA commercial marketing board.
Building high-performing teams
From a team of 20 in hospitality to 120 at Newcastle University. I founded a Professional Marketing Academy that lifted team capability by 40%, and I care about recognition as much as results.
Trusted to lead beyond the day job.
Chair, Russell Group Marketing & Student Recruitment Forum
Former ChairRussell Group, 24 research-intensive UK universitiesFive years convening marketing and recruitment leaders across the Russell Group, in collaboration with UCAS, to build deeper collaboration and a shared understanding of how UK universities are seen around the world.
Parish Councillor
CurrentWoolsington Parish CouncilChair, QS Global Advisory Board (Europe)
Former ChairIndependent panel advising QS on engagement with higher education professionalsGlobal Thought Leadership Team
Former memberCASE, Framework for Brand and Reputation MetricsFellow, and former Vice-Chair, North East
FCIMChartered Institute of MarketingBoard Executive, Commercial Marketing Board EMEA
Former boardIHG, setting £30M+ marketing strategy for 500+ hotelsChair, Joint Governing Board
Former ChairSMART Multi Academy Trust, Farne and Cheviot Primary SchoolsBoard Trustee
Former trusteeHealthworks NewcastleBoard Trustee
Former trusteeCitizens Advice GatesheadBoard Trustee
Former trusteeNewcastle Community Asset TrustLatest thinking.
Why I'm bringing Marketing Greats back
Season 2 of Marketing Greats in Higher Education launches in November 2026. Here's what's changed, who you'll hear from, and why now.
16 October 2026 · 2 min read
Policy is now a reputation event
Visa rules, enrolment caps and funding settlements used to be a matter for the planning office. Today they shape how universities are seen around the world, often before the institution has said a word.
15 October 2026 · 3 min read
Reputation is a performance metric. Manage it like one.
Universities track applications, income and research output to the decimal point. Reputation, which shapes all three, is still too often treated as a matter of opinion.
14 October 2026 · 2 min readPlanning a conference? Let's talk.
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