We loved speaking to Dino Myers-Lamptey on our most recent episode of Genuine Humans. Dino is the founder of The Barber Shop, a strategic creative company that works with disruptive, purpose-led or purpose-seeking brands. He’s also part of the Conscious Advertising Network and on the Board of the Marketing Society.
He’s a natural entrepreneur. His first business, set up in competition with his brother as a teenager, was a barber shop (hence his company name today), cutting hair for friends in his mum’s sitting room. Their next venture was to found a basketball tournament in London that became the biggest of its kind.
He’s created an agency model at The Barber Shop that builds on this entrpreneurialism, allowing the team to be entrepreneurial in the way they work, to be consultative, and to keep the company fresh by challenging the status quo.
We talked about why he’s excited by the ‘mindblowing, powerful tools’ that are part of the industry now, and what they mean for creativity; why scale isn’t always the end goal of every agency; and why successful businesses always have creative leaders at their head. He also talks about the importance of ethical advertising.
Some of the takeaways you’ll hear from this episode:
- Have a healthy disrespect for your bosses
- Take responsibility for your decisions
- Creativity is about solving problems, not making slogans
- Don’t always take investment if you’re offered it
