5 Minutes with… Lola Gamester

Lola Gamester didn’t think that she had an entrepreneurial spirit, citing a risk-averse attitude. Then, after a decade of working together with Blacklist’s co-founders, Mathias Upton-Hansen and Dom Ho, and starting an agency together, she discovered that she “loved the chase as much as the wins.” Almost a decade later, the agency has gone from a start-up space above a pub in Soho to offices in London and Amsterdam while working with some of the world’s most recognisable brands including Pokémon, Disney and Paramount.

Part of Lola’s vision for the agency, shared by the leadership team, is leading with kindness and ensuring that everyone in the team has the opportunity to grow and progress while working in a welcoming environment. The agency was named as one of the Best Workplaces for Women in 2023 and its senior leadership team is made up of 63% women.

Blacklist is currently leaning into its unique expertise in the world of IP, helping brands to diversify and transition location-based entertainment to capitalise on consumer appetite for experiences. Underpinning the agency’s skills in this realm is a newly launched IPx, an AI engine that helps brands de-risk the brand extension process.

Today, LBB’s Zhenya Tsenzharyk caught up with Lola to learn more about the market opportunities IP unlocks, how she helped to build Blacklist into the agency it is today, and the advice anyone looking to start their own agency needs to know.

LBB> You’re the co-founder and joint MD of Blacklist. What did you predict would be the biggest challenges in founding a company? And what did they actually turn out to be?

Lola> I thought the biggest challenge would be managing my own risk aversion, and the anxiety of not being part of a big, safe, corporation. But it turns out I love the hustle! I had an entrepreneurial side which I hadn’t previously had the chance to flex, but once we got started I realised I loved the chase as much as the wins. Yes it can be a bit of a roller coaster, but you don’t get the highs without the lows.

I’m very lucky to have two incredible co-founders along for the ride – I am in awe of solo founders who do what we do without the safety net of fellow founders providing sounding board, support and accountability. After 10 years working together before Blacklist, and nearly 10 years in the agency, our skillsets have grown to complement each other, with Mathias' [Upton-Hansen, CEO and co-founder] vision and boundless optimism to drive us forward, Dom’s [Ho, co-founder] empathetic leadership to reinforce our culture, and my make-it-happen approach to getting things done.

The biggest challenge actually turned out to be making the shift from an operational to leadership role. We started the business being all hands on deck in classic startup style. But as the company began to scale, this transition required a switch in mindset from being deeply involved in the day-to-day to empowering a team to take on those responsibilities while I focused on long-term objectives and growth strategies.

LBB> Blacklist was named as one of the Best Workplaces for Women in 2023. What specific policies or practices have you implemented to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for women?

Lola> From day one, we have been committed to creating an inclusive work environment where everyone has access to the same opportunities for growth and progression. Baked into our company values is our dedication to fostering a culture where hard work is recognised and rewarded, and kindness forms the basis of our interactions.

Having been a full time working single parent myself, I know that being a parent doesn’t have to hold you back if your employer provides the right framework for returning to work. We strongly believe that the disruption of maternity leave is a good thing for the business as it creates an opportunity for others in the team to step up and progress, and I’m proud that all our new mums have felt supported to return to work post mat leave.

Having a diverse team means we are better able to connect to a broad spectrum of clients needs and ultimately deliver work that resonates with a wider audience. Having a senior team that is 63% women means our team can benefit from mentorship and guidance from our female leaders.

LBB> What do you think Blacklist is really good at right now that you’re working to preserve? And is there anything that you want to change or improve on?

Lola> In some ways we are a very different business to the one we started nine years ago: our scrappy startup housed above a pub in Soho has matured into a grown-up business with offices in London and Amsterdam with a board of industry experts and a global client roster (including Pokémon, Disney, Paramount) that I couldn't have dreamt of when we started.

But the startup can-do mindset also still prevails as our AI transformation continues apace, with the development of IPx, our AI engine which we have built to de-risk brand extensions. As a business we have never been afraid to try new things, in fact that’s what keeps agency life so exciting.

LBB> Some of Blacklist’s specialities are translating IP into experiences and location-based entertainment. Why is this an area that you’ve moved into over the last few years and what kind of opportunities does it represent for clients?

Lola> We specialise in working with entertainment and gaming brands to translate their intellectual property into captivating experiences, and using our in-house platform we are able leverage AI to de-risk those brand extensions.

IP unlocks are one of the most exciting growth areas in the world today: the global immersive entertainment market is projected to reach US $473.9 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 23.5% (Yahoo, 2025). Consumers love that they provide new ways to connect with the brands, characters and universes that really matter to them. Brands love them because they open up new revenue streams, products and services and deepen brand love with their consumers. In an oversaturated attention economy, experiences are going to win every time.

This expansion into real world and virtual experiences was a natural evolution for Blacklist, making the most of our storytelling expertise to complement the growth in demand for OOH and experiential activations.

LBB> What advice would you give now to anyone who wants to start their own agency?

Lola> People are everything! If you’ve got the right people in the right seats, you can achieve pretty much anything. Taking time to get really granular about our company values and then using those as a metric when recruiting has really helped us find and retain an amazing team.

Find mentors and ask for help – most challenges have been solved by someone else already, and people love to share their experience.

Consider your pricing carefully and build a rate card that recognises outputs and value creation rather than simply input resources.

Agencies are great at creating nuanced and finely tuned processes. This is hugely valuable but often overlooked. If you need it, someone else is likely to benefit from it too – so consider if your service could be productised.

Hard conversations don’t get easier for waiting – even a worst case scenario is better faced now than being a future looming inevitability.

If in doubt, act. It’s impossible to know for sure if a decision is going to be right, but thinking big, being open to change and being ready to pivot, that’s the essence of entrepreneurship.