"We put creativity over and above anything—including profit," declares William Upfield, founder of Department of Creativity.
In an industry where agencies often prioritise margins over quality, this five-year-old independent agency has positioned itself as a champion of authentic creative work. While many agencies talk about creativity, Department of Creativity has built its entire business model around protecting it.
From pandemic beginnings to cultural impact
Founded in early 2020 just as the pandemic hit, Department of Creativity emerged from William's growing frustration with building someone else's agency. After an "epiphany moment" upon returning to agency life following a stint client-side, he and his wife, Amy—a creative in the ad industry—decided to launch their own venture.
The timing couldn't have been more challenging. With no clients, no office and a global pandemic unfolding, the first six months were daunting. Their breakthrough came from an unexpected source—their four-year-old daughter asking why she couldn't see her grandparents or go to nursery during lockdown.
"We realised the smallest voices were asking the biggest questions at the time," William says. "There was nothing from the government that explained to children in their own language what was going on."
The agency created "A to Z of Coronavirus for Kids"—whimsical illustrations with copy written from a child's perspective. They produced tear-proof, smudge-proof posters and colouring packs, distributing them free to families, schools and nurseries.
This proactive campaign not only won them an award for ‘Best Creative for Education’, but also established their credentials with future clients. Eighteen months later, when pitching to restaurant chain Bill's, the COO recognised their work from her own daughter's nursery.
"That's been our ethos—if we put all our efforts into doing something from a good place and focusing on creativity over our own costs, it will always pay dividends in the long term," William emphasises.
Challenging the traditional agency model
In an industry dominated by expensive offices and bloated overheads, Department of Creativity has deliberately stripped away what William calls "all the unnecessary parts of heavy traditional agencies."
"From the office cost to the overheads to the cost of downtime when projects aren't in—you put all that together and you have to recoup that money somewhere," William explains. "So when you do get a project in, your rate's going to be higher.”
By contrast, Department of Creativity operates with a core team of 16 creatives, typically working with eight or nine daily, and drawing in additional talent as needed. This flexible model allows them to maintain a flat rate card while prioritising creative quality.
"It goes back to day one—100% has to go into creative time," William insists. "We have the account handling support, the strategic insight, but absolutely everything goes into the creative thought."
This approach extends to how they treat their freelance network. In an industry notorious for late payments, the agency pays freelancers within three days regardless of their terms—usually within 24 hours.
"It doesn't matter if it's our cash flow problem," William says. They even proactively increase rates for freelancers they believe are undercharging: "If they charge us a rate which we feel is not fair because we know we're paying another creator a higher rate, we will increase their rate ourselves."
Human truth as the creative foundation
Central to the agency's methodology is what William describes as finding the "human truth" behind every brief—regardless of whether it's a branding project or campaign.
"Every single campaign or branding exercise we do comes from a human truth," he explains. This approach has led to groundbreaking work for clients like Talkmobile, owned by Vodafone.
When Talkmobile approached them for campaign consistency, the agency identified that for their half-million customers, "the phone wasn't front of mind—it wasn't the most important thing in their life."
This insight led to a powerful creative platform: "There's more to life than phones." While consumers never see this line explicitly, it underpins everything from photography (where phones are deliberately in the background or being ignored) to radio scripts featuring voicemails because people are too busy living life to answer.
"That's refreshing for a phone company to say, 'Let's tell people not to use their phones,'" William notes. "Everything just clicked."
This commitment to human insight creates what William describes as "a real honesty" in their work. "Because everything hangs off that as a platform, everything's relatable," he says.
Creating impact beyond advertising
Beyond client work, Department of Creativity maintains a commitment to proactive charitable campaigns. Each Christmas, they create a project at their own expense, sometimes partnering with established charities.
Their recent "Christmas Coal for Crisis" campaign exemplifies their approach to turning human insights into creative solutions. Recognising how many people annoy us throughout the year, they created a site where people could purchase various types of coal (with punny names like "McCoaley Coalkin" and "Coaldilocks") to send to deserving recipients.
The coal came with a personalised message, and 100% of the purchase price went to Crisis, the homelessness charity. The agency absorbed all costs for packaging, printing and postage.
The future: breaking into the London scene
As Department of Creativity looks to the future, William is focused on breaking down the stigma regional agencies face.
"I'm really excited to break into the London scene," he says. "There's a real stigma with regional agencies”
William is determined to challenge what he sees as a monopoly in industry recognition: "There's such a monopoly with the same names. You see 'ads of the day' and think, 'How is that ad of the day?' And you realise it's because it's got that particular brand name or that agency name behind it."
For brands navigating this landscape, Department of Creativity offers a compelling proposition: in a world where agencies often prioritise profit over creativity, authenticity and human truth might be the most valuable currency of all.
"What we do well is identifying the human element in brands," William concludes. "If brands want to feel honest, relatable and genuine, they're going to find that with us."
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