When We Need More Than Just Data: The Communication Skills Driving Growth in Paid Media Paid media has never had more data. More signals, more dashboards, more attribution models than any team knows what to do with. And yet the most important decisions, the ones that shape budgets, clients, careers, still come down to a conversation. A pitch. A moment in a room where someone has to actually move another person to act. In this episode of Growth, Interrupted, we ask the question the industry rarely makes time for: what does it actually take to communicate, persuade, and lead in performance-driven marketing, and is poor communication quietly one of the most underrated obstacles to growth? What You'll Learn: Influence, Storytelling & Negotiation in Advertising This conversation covers the full arc of human communication in paid media, from the dynamics of client–agency relationships to the role of storytelling in a data-heavy world, from negotiation frameworks that go far beyond the back-and-forth of budget conversations, to the communication habits that hold even the most talented leaders back from the next level. You'll hear why the best argument in the room doesn't always win. Why committing to a decision is always partly an emotional act, even in organisations that run entirely on metrics. Why framing is a tool, but trust is the strategy. And why the brands that build real influence with their audiences are doing something that no dashboard can fully measure. We also go deep on what AI actually changes for the humans in the room. Not the headlines about generative AI, but the quieter, more consequential shift in what skills matter, what becomes less important, and what the leaders who thrive in an AI-driven environment will need to do differently. About the Guest: Leadership & Communication Research Meets Industry Practice Our guest this episode, Jesse Scinto, brings a perspective that's genuinely rare in paid media conversations. With nearly 14 years at Columbia University, where he teaches graduate courses on leadership, influence, and critical conversations, and years before that advising organisations like Bloomberg, Coca-Cola, and Deloitte on communication and persuasion, he sits at the intersection of academic rigour and real-world practice. He's also the founder of the Winter Symposium and runs an executive coaching practice helping senior leaders develop the kind of presence and storytelling ability that actually moves rooms. Growth, Interrupted is hosted by Amy Tran, Senior Director of Growth at Crealytics, and is sponsored by Crealytics, an award-winning digital marketing agency specialising in retail, ecommerce, and full-funnel paid media. Keywords: paid media leadership, marketing communication, influence in advertising, storytelling in marketing, negotiation for marketers, DTC marketing strategy, performance marketing leadership, AI in advertising, client-agency relationships, growth marketing podcast
