Best Apisit Uthakhamkong is a creative producer and brand strategist based in New Zealand, working across brand, digital, design, websites, and moving image.
Over more than a decade, he has built a steady practice across New Zealand and Australia. His work spans brand identity, multimedia design, website development, and documentary film, with a focus on clear thinking, strong visual storytelling, and practical delivery. He’s worked with a wide mix of organisations, helping shape how they communicate across both digital and physical platforms.
He is currently Team Leader and Producer of Brand Content at University of Otago. In this role, he leads a small in-house team producing strategic content across the university. He oversees projects from concept through to delivery, managing people, timelines, and creative output across a large institution where clarity, consistency, and care matter just as much as speed.
Best has led teams and projects at the University of Otago, where he currently manages a brand content team, and across a range of organisations throughout his career. He understands what it takes to hold a creative vision together while keeping the people around him clear, supported, and moving in the same direction.
He founded The Peace Club in 2019, a registered charitable trust in Dunedin that promotes inner peace, mindfulness, compassion, and diversity. He chairs the trust and leads its creative direction, managing a fifteen-member volunteer team that has delivered national initiatives and secured over $100,000 in grants and sponsorship funding.
He also serves as New Zealand Executive Committee Member of the Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAYE) Pacific, working alongside young entrepreneurs and stakeholders across eleven Pacific nations
Best grew up in Thailand and has lived in New Zealand for over a decade, building a creative practice that is genuinely cross-cultural. That perspective shapes how he approaches every brief. He does not design from a single point of view.
His career has spanned a wide range of New Zealand organisations. As Brand Producer at the University of Otago, he led a team delivering strategic brand content for the entire institution. As Senior Graphic Designer in the Agency Marketing team at PGG Wrightson in Christchurch, he worked across real estate, livestock, and wool. He has also held design and multimedia roles at Otago Polytechnic, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Southern, Otago Community Rugby, and the Dhammachai International Research Institute, where international travel and event production rounded out a broad grounding in marketing, design, and communications.
Best founded and chairs The Peace Club, a registered charitable trust in Dunedin, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAYE) Pacific as the New Zealand representative, working with young entrepreneurs across eleven Pacific nations.
Graduate Diploma in Communication Design, Otago Polytechnic | Te Pukenga, with Distinction.
Bachelor of Brand Communications and Business Administration, Bangkok University, with First Class Honours.
New Zealand Certificate in Digital Media and Design, Overall Excellence, Otago Polytechnic.
Professional Certificate in Unmanned Aerial Systems, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Kapu Kawhe cross-cultural mentoring programme participant, mentored by Kellie Coombes, Secretary for Women and Chief Executive of Manatu Wahine, the Ministry for Women.
His work as a creative producer and brand strategist spans the full range of creative practice: brand identity and visual systems, strategy and positioning, websites and digital experiences, advertising and marketing services, exhibitions and installations, video production and motion, social media communications, data visualisation, and sound design. He does not specialise in one thing. He brings every relevant discipline to bear on the problem in front of him.
Best leads every project personally. The person a client speaks to at the start of a project is the person who thinks through the strategy, makes the design decisions, and delivers the final work. There is no account management layer between the creative thinking and the client relationship. That is a conviction, not a circumstance.
Brand Identity and Visual Systems — Logo design, visual identity, colour systems, typography, and brand guidelines: the complete infrastructure that lets an organisation present itself consistently and with confidence across every channel and context.
Strategy and Positioning — Before the design, the thinking. Best works with clients to clarify what they stand for, who they are speaking to, and what distinguishes them from everyone else doing similar work. Strategy without design is a document. Design without strategy is decoration.
Digital Experience and Websites — UX architecture, website design, WordPress development, and digital systems built to serve their users rather than impress their makers.
Video Production and Motion — Cinematic brand films, documentary production, aerial cinematography, motion graphics, and post-production, made with the same strategic and creative rigour as everything else Best does.
Advertising and Marketing — Campaign development, social media strategy, SEO, email communications, and the full range of services that connect a brand to the people it needs to reach.
Exhibitions and Installations — Exhibition design, environmental graphics, wayfinding, large-format print, and spatial thinking at the scale of a room.
A versatile and award-winning creative professional with over a decade of expertise spanning brand strategy, communication design, videography, and community leadership. Currently driving visual narrative as a Brand Producer at the University of Otago, Best combines corporate marketing precision with a passion for social impact. As the founder and chairperson of The Peace Club (Trust) and an executive member of the Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAYE) Pacific, he leverages cross-cultural insights and design thinking to empower youth, foster mental wellbeing, and deliver meaningful community solutions.
Global Youth Mobilization (GYM) Award | Powered by the United Nations Foundation & EU
Secured major global grant funding and recognition via the Global Youth Mobilization Fund (backed by the European Union, WHO, and the United Nations Foundation). This award directly funded grassroots, youth-led community and mental health recovery initiatives designed to combat the social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2023 Commonwealth Youth Awards | Finalist (Pacific Region)
Recognized on a global stage as one of 50 extraordinary young leaders during the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Awarded for Excellence in Development Work, highlighting his profound impact in youth advocacy and cross-cultural unity.
Peace and Disarmament Trust Award | Local Community Impact
Awarded to The Peace Club under his leadership for exceptional local community impact. This celebrated the “Art for Peace” initiative, which mobilized over 500 students to channel global harmony and mindfulness through visual arts.
Design Achievement Award | Otago Polytechnic
Awarded Design Achievement with Distinction upon earning a Graduate Diploma in Communication Design. This honor recognized his high-caliber work, including a transformative design internship with Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand Southern) creating critical public health exhibitions and clear, community-facing medical infographics.
Best Uthakhamkong is the founder and managing director of POV Creative Agency, a multi-disciplinary, independently owned creative studio that he built from a single design practice into an operation working across New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand.
POV stands for Point of View. It is the belief that design without a position is just decoration, that strategy without conviction is just process, and that the best creative work always begins with someone who has genuinely thought about what they want to say and is willing to stand behind it. That conviction is not the agency’s tagline. It is the reason Best founded it.
POV is the agency Best founded and leads as managing director. The team works across Dunedin, Sydney, Christchurch, and Bangkok. POV stands for three things at once: Power of Vision, Point of View, and Proof of Value. All three are true. All three describe what the agency brings to every project.
Best does not think of himself as someone who produces output. He thinks of himself as someone who solves problems, and who cares enough about the people on the other side of the brief to do it properly.
He is not the right fit for every project. He works best with clients who take their communication seriously, who want someone engaged rather than just efficient, and who understand that good creative work takes genuine thought.
He listens more than he talks in early conversations. The way a client describes their organisation — the words they reach for and the ones they avoid — tells him more than any brief document. That listening is where the real work begins.
Name “Best” was given to me by my mother as a constant reminder to always strive for the best version of myself. The origin of my name comes from Thailand, where “Uthakhamkong” means a family of immense value, and “Apisit” means privilege, signifying the privilege of being alive and being oneself.
My experience spans higher education, non-profits, and corporate sectors, where I’ve managed creative teams, developed brand content strategies, directed national advertising, and produced digital storytelling that reaches thousands. I’m just as committed to mentoring designers and supporting professional growth as I am to delivering results. Whether building a virtual campus map that draws in prospective students, creating identities for community organisations, or managing international partnerships, I bring energy, clarity, and creativity to every project.
At the heart of my work is a belief in strong storytelling and authentic branding – for people, for organisations, and for communities.