Bright Signals Acquires Three Part Story & PUNK

We’re hugely excited to announce that Bright Signals has grown from 31 to 45 staff, following the acquisitions of digital agency Three Part Story and Edinburgh-based advertising agency PUNK Creative.

The three agencies will now operate as a single integrated team under the Bright Signals brand.

Managing Director and founder David Craik said:

"Our vision in creating Bright Signals was to take a more agile approach to marketing communications, leveraging the real-time feedback 'signals' afforded by digital channels to test, iterate, and improve on risky fire-and-forget campaigns.

Following the digital acceleration brought about by the pandemic, we’ve seen a marked increase in demand for a more integrated, or 'full-funnel' offering, where brand advertising and performance marketing are connected through sophisticated data and targeting.

These acquisitions represent a step-change in our ability to meet that demand, with the PUNK team bringing extensive expertise in top-of-the-funnel strategy and creative advertising, while Three Part Story really bolster our capabilities in bottom-of-the-funnel web development and ecommerce."

David Buchan, Three Part Story Managing Director added:

"We’ve long admired Bright Signals reputation for imagination and inventiveness, which together with Three Part Story's longstanding pedigree in technical excellence and digital content allows us to combine creativity and technology in ways that will deliver even more innovation and impact for clients."

Jane Strachan, PUNK Managing Director and founder, added:

"We created PUNK because we believe in the power of big ideas and saw the opportunity to bring fresh thinking to the market. We've enjoyed over five years of success with this model, and now’s the ideal time to continue that evolution.

Bringing our three agencies together represents not only a formidable combination for clients but a hugely exciting opportunity for our people, to bring their ideas to life by collaborating with like-minded experts across a broader pool of talent."

The Bright Signals leadership team has been enhanced further by the recent recruitment of Creative Director Guy Vickerstaff, previously Creative Director with The & Partnership and Head of Art at The Leith Agency, as well as being the first ever creative to chair The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in Scotland.

Since being founded Bright Signals has won The Marketing Society Star Awards digital category more times than any other agency, with five golds and four silvers in six years, as well as being named SME Agency of the Year, an accolade which PUNK also won twice in recent years.

The turnover of the combined entity will now exceed £3 million.