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What does it actually take to be a great account strategist in paid media, not just a good one?

In this episode of Growth, Interrupted, host Amy Tran sits down with Ally Basner, currently YouTube Product Lead at Google with eight years of experience partnering with some of the world's largest retail and DTC brands. Ally brings a rare inside-Google perspective on what separates strategists who execute from those who truly drive growth.

They get into the mindset shift that most people miss early in their careers, and why platform expertise alone will only take you so far. Ally shares what it really means to think like a business owner, how to challenge a client's ROAS target without damaging the relationship, and why curiosity might be the most underrated skill in performance marketing today.

On the DTC and retail side, Ally unpacks how to work with margin-sensitive businesses, what most brands get wrong in the lead-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and how to avoid the trap of running what she calls "a really optimised decline."

The conversation also gets into client relationships, the difference between being liked and being trusted, why saying yes to everything is a fast track to burnout, and how to push back in a way that actually strengthens a partnership. Plus: the platform-agency dynamic, what Google really wants from agency partners, and how AI is changing the day-to-day of the strategist role.

Ally closes with what she sees as the biggest career growth blockers, including the "expert trap" and an aversion to risk that quietly stalls careers before people even realise it.

If you work in paid media, performance marketing, or account strategy, whether at an agency, brand, or platform, this one is worth your time.

Topics covered: account strategy, DTC marketing, retail media, Google Ads, paid search, performance marketing, client relationships, ROAS, unit economics, Black Friday strategy, agency-platform collaboration, AI in marketing, career development in adtech.

Growth, Interrupted is brought to you by Crealytics — an award-winning global digital marketing agency specialising in retail, e-commerce, and full-funnel paid media.

This is the episode where it all starts.

Growth, Interrupted is a podcast about what's actually driving growth in DTC and retail today, and what's getting in the way.

ROAS has been the default answer for too long. Incrementality is finally being taken seriously. And in the AI era, where automation is doing more of the work, the attribution question has gotten even harder to answer with confidence.

This show exists for the CMOs, performance leads, and growth operators who are done optimising for metrics that look good on paper but don't hold up in the boardroom.

Your host: Amy Tran, Senior Director of Growth at Crealytics, with 9+ years in paid media across North America and EMEA.

Growth, Interrupted is brought to you by Crealytics — an award-winning global digital marketing agency with over 15 years of deep expertise in retail, e-commerce, and full-funnel paid media.