A trio of key appointments at Bright Signals

We're excited to announce we have recently strengthened our senior management team with three new appointments.

Bright Signals – which employs 50 people – have steadily expanded our offering across creative, digital and media, while recently seeing particular success in the public sector. After winning places on two of the Scottish Government’s Marketing Services Frameworks, we won the Star Awards Public Sector Gold and Bronze last year at the first time of entering, before winning two Golds and the overall effectiveness Silver at the UK BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) Awards.

We welcome Frances Irvine as our new Managing Director. With over 20 years of experience in the creative industries, Frances has served as a board member, co-owner and Associate Director at Whitespace, working with clients ranging from the Scottish Government to the Royal Academy of Music. Frances will oversee the agency’s client services teams and take overall responsibility for commercial performance, including driving forward the agency’s integrated offering.

She said, “The Bright Signals team are refreshingly humble, but the quality of their work is incredible. Their combination of creative ingenuity, deep tech expertise and paid media all under one roof is unusual here in Scotland, and reflects client demands for more agility, flexibility and better value from agencies.”

The Bright Signals Senior Management Team, from L-R: David Buchan, Phillip Lockwood-Holmes, Frances Irvine, Vic Milne, Stuart Peebles, Guy Vickerstaff, David Craik.

Phillip Lockwood-Holmes, industry leader and former colleague of Frances as co-owner and Managing Partner at Whitespace, takes on a role as Head of Innovation. With decades of experience in providing creative and strategic solutions for household names such as Sainsburys, Nike, Oxfam and Lego, and leading global accounts at Dentsu, he will help drive innovation and operational excellence across the agency.

Philip said: “I’ve long admired Bright Signals’ reputation for combining creativity and technology to deliver stand-out work. The work the agency is now doing in areas like AI is hugely exciting and I’m delighted to be joining the team to drive that on.”

Finally, Vic Milne joins the team from Scotland’s largest creative agency The Leith Agency ,where she worked with brands like IRN-BRU, The Scottish Government, Famous Grouse and Baxters, where she headed up the agency’s strategy department. As Head of Planning and Optimisation, Vic will lead Bright Signals’ creative and communications strategists, including social/digital marketing and media planning & buying. She added; "The team at Bright Signals create effective work using strong evidence-based planning. I am excited to learn from the incredible team here, whilst helping guide the strategic direction and input to the great culture of the agency. I feel very lucky to be working with these folks.”

David Craik, CEO at Bright Signals added; “I’m delighted to welcome Frances, Phillip and Vic. Added to the incredible array of talent that was already in the agency, our great culture and fantastic clients, I’m hugely excited about what we can do together.”