Aimee Gossage on Smarter Media Investment
When 2025 kicked off, Aimee Gossage switched jobs and swapped vantage points. After 15+ years on the vendor side of media, she joined Audience Group as Head of Investment to go from pitching inventory and solutions to assessing them on behalf of our clients. She knows smarter advertising strategy includes smarter media investment, and she’s up for it.
“Media sales gave me the front-row seat, but agency life feels like being in the writers’ room,” says Aimee. “There’s a new challenge or curveball every day, and I love that.
“There’s so much creativity in the strategy, the problem-solving, the collaboration.”
What Aimee brings is a rare combination: deep commercial smarts, a well-honed radar for value, and the ability to connect strategy with execution in a way that benefits clients. Her job is to make media investment smarter, but she’s also prioritising teamwork as well as healthy approaches to work and leadership.
More ≠ Better
Here’s something Aimee is helping advertisers to understand about media trading and investment: “Cheaper doesn’t always mean better. More doesn’t always mean effective.” She’s here to help redefine what smarter media investment for better results really looks like.
Day-to-day, Aimee helps the Audience Group team guide smarter investment conversations by giving account leads the support, structure and context they need to help clients build confidence in the why before chasing the how many. That might mean rethinking a bloated channel plan or prompting a sharper brief with the right questions at the right time.
“There’s still too much obsession with volume and velocity. But the most effective investment strategies are the ones grounded in clarity: who are we trying to reach, what do we want them to do, and why should they care?” she says.
Aimee is particularly interested in rebalancing short-term trading logic with long-term brand thinking. “Not everything needs to be traded in a 12-week sprint. Media can drive sustained business impact if it’s planned with intention.”
Both Sides Now
Coming from the vendor side, Aimee knows what’s being pitched and what’s actually being promised. That perspective gives her an edge in negotiations, planning, and vendor partnerships, but it also gives her empathy.
“I’ve seen behind the curtain. I know what pressures exist, what gets inflated, and what genuinely adds value,” says Aimee. “My job now is to help clients cut through the noise by asking better questions and creating more aligned partnerships.”
She sees commercial relationships not just as transactions but as opportunities to create shared value and mutual accountability.
Smarter, Not Busier
Like many in media, Aimee used to wear busy-ness like a badge. Now, she’s more interested in being effective. She’s also recommends stepping away from the keyboard when you need a mental reset.
“Early in my career, I thought full calendars and long to-do lists meant I was doing well. But being reactive isn’t the same as being useful. Now, I try to protect time for actual thinking. That’s when better decisions happen.”
Leadership With EQ (And Snacks)
At Audience Group, Aimee leads the investment function and sees her role as a connector.
“Whether it’s aligning stakeholders, teasing out insights from a team, or reframing a problem, I’m most useful when I help people make sense of the mess and move forward with confidence.”
She believes great leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating the conditions for others to bring their best thinking. Psychological safety in the workplace, she says, is underrated.
“I hope people feel like I bring structure without red tape, energy without ego, and that I’m the one who always has snacks and a backup plan.”
Why Audience Group, Why Now
Aimee came to Audience Group to join us in challenging the status quo with insight, humour, and a healthy disregard for assumptions.
She says that, from the outside she saw a business with quiet confidence. She didn’t see theatrics, and she appreciated the smart thinking and solid delivery. “When I encountered Audience Group I saw people that asked the questions that made you stop and reframe the whole brief,” she says. “Now that I’m on the inside, I can see why: there’s genuine rigour in the way this team thinks, but there’s also humour, humility, and a refreshing lack of BS.”
That blend of smarts and authenticity is what drew her in. “It’s a team that cares deeply about doing good work, and doing it with good people. Which, let’s face it, is rarer than it should be.”
“I said yes because I wanted to be part of a team that’s genuinely committed to doing media better. Not just talking about it over coffee.”
For Aimee, smarter media investment is about intent, alignment, and building partnerships that drive meaningful impact to clients’ advertising programs.
Contact us to rethink your media investment strategy.
