Independent agency BEST. appoints Clayton Edwards to group design director role
Independent customer experience and retail transformation agency BEST. has announced the appointment of Clayton Edwards as group design director, having joined the team in this newly created role from July 1, 2019.
With a Masters of Architecture from the University of Western Australia, Edwards joins the BEST. senior leadership team with a wealth of nationwide experience, most recently with Crown Resorts working on the $2bn Barangaroo development in Sydney.
BEST. has been finetuning its structure and service offering over the past four years; evolving the agency from its original roots of signage and wayfinding into a specialist, full service brand transformation agency with built environment at its core. This process is being championed by current BEST. business director, Janelle Toomey who was formerly managing director of SMART Australia (a division of McCann Worldgroup).
Following a period of significant client wins and exponential growth over the past three years, Edwards is another key appointment in the agency’s growth strategy that will add a level of experience in high-calibre national projects to the already formidable team. The result will be invaluable to the agency’s growing client base.
Says Toomey: “We are seeing far more complex projects from our existing clients and the addition of senior architectural expertise is a tremendous value-add to our current projects in retail transformation and experience design.
“Brands are becoming increasingly aware of the relevance and importance of their built assets as a channel to engage with consumers in a rapidly evolving retail landscape. With the market constantly changing, clients are demanding smarter human centered design solutions from us as an agency. Clayton’s inclusion in the team will bolster our collective strength and we are thrilled to have him join.”
Founder and CEO of BEST. Jacob Burke believes the agency has now arrived at a complete full service, multidisciplinary design offering: “Clayton was the missing part to the puzzle. We are pretty fired up about what’s in store for us and our clients in the future.
“Our passion and pursuit for using design to foster and enhance human connections is kicking into a whole new gear and our ability to continually Advocate for New for our clients and their customers is about to explode on the national and international stage.”
BEST. clients include Quest Apartment Hotels, AGL, Rail Projects Victoria, Transport for NSW, NSW Health, Australian Red Cross Blood Service, Charter Hall, Uniting Vic/Tas, Veriu, Punthill Apartments, Coca-Cola Amatil and Shaver Shop.