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Amina Zakim, brand strategist, seated in her studio

MOST BRANDS DON'T HAVE A DESIGN PROBLEM. THEY HAVE A DECISION PROBLEM.

I help founder-led businesses decide what they stand for, say it so clearly they stop being compared on price, and stay recognisably themselves as teams, agencies and AI produce more of the brand every month.

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I review every audit personally.

Badeel Treats: 10x revenue growth · Cheppih Inc.: 180% increase in qualified lead flow across nine brands · Eight years of brand work across the UAE, Turkey and Belgium

SOUND FAMILIAR?

  • A prospect lands on your site, scrolls for ten seconds, then asks a friend what you actually do.
  • Your best clients came from referrals, and nobody can quite explain why.
  • Your Instagram says one thing, your pitch deck says another, and your sales calls say a third.
  • You started using AI for content. It's faster. It also sounds like everyone else.
  • You keep getting compared on price, which is what people do when they can't see any other difference.

None of that is a design problem. Another logo won't fix it. A decision will.

POSITIONING BEFORE PIXELS.

Most agencies start with how a brand looks. I start with what it has decided: who you're for, what you stand for, and the one reason someone should pick you over the alternatives. Once that's settled, the website, the content and the design get easier, and they stop contradicting each other.

Positioning.

So you stop competing on price.

We decide who you're for and why you, then turn it into one sentence everyone on your team can repeat.

Brand experience.

So the whole business sounds like one company.

Website, content and sales conversations tell the same story in the same voice.

AI governance.

So scaling doesn't dilute you.

Written rules for what your brand would and would never say, so AI tools and people stay on-brand.

AI DIDN'T CREATE THE SAMENESS PROBLEM. IT REMOVED THE FRICTION THAT WAS HIDING IT.

Before AI, producing mediocre content took effort, which kept the volume low. Now it takes seconds. If your brand hasn't decided what it stands for, AI will average it into everyone else's. And when it goes wrong, the brand takes the blame, not the tool. A Canadian tribunal held Air Canada responsible for what its own chatbot told a customer. (Source) A Chevrolet dealership's chatbot agreed to sell a new Tahoe for $1. (Source)

My PhD research is about exactly this: who governs what a brand says when AI is speaking for it. I call the slow version of that failure Brand Drift.

Read the research →

ONE PARTNERSHIP. THREE WAYS IN.

Every business has a different next problem, so I diagnose first and build second.

Diagnose, 1 month.

You leave knowing what's broken, what's worth fixing first, and what to ignore.

Build, 3 months.

You leave with a brand that has decided what it stands for, says it everywhere, and has rules that protect it.

Grow, 6 months.

I become your outside brand strategist, in the room for the decisions that shape the brand.

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WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN THE DECISION GETS MADE.

10X REVENUE GROWTH

and an 8–10x return on campaigns

Badeel Treats · Confectionery, Turkey

The challenge. A good product with inconsistent messaging, no performance engine and no clear identity in a crowded category.

The decision. Repositioned the brand first, then built the performance system and retail launch on top of it.

Read the case study →

180% INCREASE IN QUALIFIED LEAD FLOW

across nine brands

Cheppih Inc. · Holding company, Belgium

The challenge. Nine brands in four industries that needed their own voices without fragmenting the group.

The decision. One brand architecture that let each brand breathe while keeping the whole portfolio coherent.

Read the case study →
“Amina took on something most marketing directors would have flattened into a single house style. Nine brands across real estate, hospitality, trade, and tourism — and she gave each one room to breathe while keeping the group legible to leadership. We saw qualified lead flow increase by 180 percent in the first year. That is not a design outcome. That is a strategy outcome.”
Mohammed CheppihFounder & Chairman, Cheppih Inc.
“Okay, I still can't believe the numbers. We had a good product and a messy brand — that was the whole problem. Amina rebuilt it from the ground up, and honestly the retail launch felt like a different company entirely. 10x revenue growth, 8 to 10x return on our campaigns — I keep having to say that out loud to believe it. Best decision we made all year.”
Maram HammoudFounder, Badeel Treats
“There's a version of this work that chases numbers and a version that respects what the journey means to people. Amina found the second version. She built a voice for us that never once felt like marketing — it felt like honesty. We grew past 253,000 followers with a 10x return on our campaigns, but what I'm proudest of is that not one person has ever told me it felt off. That's the real win.”
Karima YakdanFounder, MyUmrah

See the work →

Amina Zakim, brand strategist

HI, I'M AMINA.

I've spent eight years building brands across the UAE, Turkey and Belgium, and I'm building a body of research on how brand identity is governed in the age of AI. I keep a small client list, which means you work with me directly, not with a team of juniors.

More about me →

DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR WHAT'S WRONG. LET ME LOOK.

Send me your real brand and I'll review it personally, then tell you the biggest opportunity I find. It's free, and there's no obligation.

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