The Edison Agency is proud to announce the appointment of Lauren Hawking as Creative Director, a role that has been open for 18 months as the agency sought the precise combination of strategic depth, creative excellence, and client portfolio breadth to lead its next chapter.
Lauren joins The Edison Agency with over 18 years of experience spanning local and international markets, bringing with her an exceptional roster of household name brands, a proven record of award-winning work, and a rare ability to operate at the intersection of brand strategy and craft. Her appointment also marks a proud milestone for the agency, completing an all-female design and innovation leadership team.
The decision to keep the Creative Director position open for 18 months was deliberate. The Edison Agency’s Founder and CEO, Amber Bonney, was clear that the appointment needed to align with a specific and evolving vision for the business, one that would allow the agency to deepen its creative capability while freeing Amber to focus her energy on what she does best: leading the agency’s education offer and growing Edison’s proprietary BrandOrbit™ behavioural science product.
“We weren’t prepared to compromise on this appointment,” said Amber Bonney. “I’ve always believed that the right creative leader changes everything, for the team, for our clients, and for the quality of the work and this role was a bit of a unicorn appointment, finding local talent with big brand experience across broad industries with the right attitudinal fit for our business. Lauren is that person. Having her lead the creative team means I can focus my energy on our education offer and on continuing to build Edison’s BrandOrbit™ into the transformative client tool it’s becoming. This is exactly the leadership shape The Edison Agency needs right now.”
The appointment reflects The Edison Agency’s broader strategic focus: positioning them at the forefront of a rapidly changing industry, with a sharpened emphasis on a soon-to-be-released Edison Uni education program focused on bridging the gap between brand theory and execution for in-house marketing and design teams.
Amber Bonney has been the driving force behind the agency’s education offer, a growing suite of programs designed to build brand and design literacy within client organisations. Lauren’s appointment gives Amber the space to deepen this work, and to continue championing their proprietary BrandOrbit™ product as a transformative framework for clients navigating an increasingly complex brand landscape.
Lauren will work closely with The Edison Agency’s strategy team to embed BrandOrbit™ across the agency’s creative output, ensuring that behavioural science principles of how consumer think, feel and choose, are translated meaningfully into the work, from brand identity and packaging through to portfolio architecture and design systems.
Lauren will lead The Edison Agency’s full creative function , a team spanning Design Graduates through to Design Directors — bringing cohesion, creative rigour, and strategic clarity to every level of the practice. Her appointment completes what is now an all-female design and innovation team, a distinction that speaks to The Edison Agency’s commitment to building a culture where exceptional talent thrives.
A passionate mentor and champion of emerging talent, Lauren brings a strong track record of developing the next generation of designers alongside her ability to operate at the most senior strategic level, making her uniquely equipped to build a team that is both creatively fearless and commercially astute.
Lauren’s appointment brings with it an outstanding local and international experience with client relationships spanning FMCG, food and beverage, personal care, confectionery, and retail. Most recently serving as Executive Design Director at The Thrills (formerly Elmwood) in Melbourne, her local brand experience includes:
Nestlé Allen’s - confectionery, brand identity & portfolio architecture
Bulla Dairy Foods - dairy FMCG, masterbrand design system
Cocobella (Made Group) - coconut water & yoghurt, brand strategy & identity
iLLi for Priceline - private label beauty accessories, brand creation
Faber-Castell - stationery & children’s products, brand identity
Four ‘N Twenty x CC’s (Patties) - food FMCG, limited edition collaboration
Coles Own Brand Portfolio - grocery retail & packaging
Farmer’s Union, Cabot’s, Dulux, Cadbury, TNCC, Nanna’s, Herbert Adams - brand and packaging across food, beverage and home categories
“The industry is changing fast,” Lauren says. “What excites me about The Edison Agency is that the thinking goes so much deeper than brand aesthetics. Working alongside the strategy team and continuing what Amber has established over the past 15 years is an opportunity to raise the bar — for our clients and for the industry.”
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Written by Liz Archer, Head of Operations
