Meet your new marketing department.
We are a creative agency based on the rockiest and most beautiful island in eastern Canada. Founded in 2006, we work with clients across Canada and in the USA from different industries such as Technology, Oil & Gas, Insurance, Charity Organizations, Tourism Destinations, Education, and others.
Joe co-founded Upstream in 2006 at the ripe age of 22 while studying Business Commerce at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Joe’s core strength is leading the development of brand and marketing strategies for clients.
An anecdote that best sums up Joe’s zest for bold marketing is the time he slipped Prince Charles his business card and lived to tell the tale.
If you left Gareth alone in a room, he would spend all day coming up with ideas and writing things; a fact he’s put to good use in his 20+ year career. A key Upstream freelancer since the early 2010s, Gareth is now our Creative Director and lead writer.
Outside the office, Gareth can be found walking his rescue beagle, Duke; playing soccer (he’s from England — it’s a rule); publishing the occasional novel; or doing a downward dog (he’s a certified yoga teacher!)
Upstream’s Art Director is the epitome of “well rounded”. Stephanie started out working for a newspaper in 2007 before a stint at a full-service ad agency. From there, she spent five years in web design, then another five with an architectural and interior design firm.
When not checking all the boxes of the ultimate AD, Steph can be found putting her fine arts degree to good use doing some painting, hitting the yoga mat, careening down a rugged trail on her mountain bike, or hanging out with her two poodles, Walter and Donnie (named for John Goodman and Steve Buscemi’s characters in The Big Lebowski!)
Paul is an Account Manager with Upstream and responsible for ensuring projects are completed on-time and on-budget. Paul honed his skills and ability to manage a lot of moving parts working as a Digital Product Owner at Johnson Insurance, a national insurance company.
Paul is also an aspiring baller who hasn’t given up on his dream to be a starting guard for the Toronto Raptors.
Vaishal is a gifted strategist with unique experience in market research, communication strategies development, and business growth. Vaishal’s experience working for multi-national companies doing international marketing and his MBA training have proven to be valuable additions to our team that have helped elevate the business and academic fidelity of our marketing strategies for clients.
Vaishal loves exploring Newfoundland’s great outdoors and offroading in his 2007 Corolla.
Brian is the swiss army knives of swiss army knives and an award-winning designer with 15+ years of experience in the advertising industry.
Production art, IT, website development, studio management, animation, an abundance of random knowledge, a gigantic collection of Kirby merchandise etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.
Every agency team needs a Brian.
Martha is a highly dedicated and exceptionally organized office manager, diligently ensuring the seamless operation of Upstream. With a proven track record in bookkeeping and accounting at multinational corporations, her expertise has been instrumental in Upstream’s continued success.
Just don’t eat her Turkey soup. Trust us.
We work with a deep network of gifted freelance specialists and partner companies in NL, other parts of Canada and the world to deliver a full range of marketing services to our clients.
In 2006, Joe Coffey was an intern at the largest marketing firm in Eastern Canada. While there, Joe was asked to work on a casino account with the goal of influencing more people to gamble. Faced with a moral conflict, he decided to start his own firm.
14+ years later, Upstream is a trusted marketing firm that picks its clients carefully and aims to promote products and services it believes in.