March, 2026.- In an ecosystem where content is often ignored by default, Allen & Gerritsen (A&G) has taken a definitive step to solidify its brand philosophy. With the appointment of Cherie Johnson as Head of Media, the agency completes a two-year transformation cycle, betting on a vision where media is not just a distribution channel, but the very stage where creative ideas come to life. Johnson, whose career spans from entertainment marketing at giants like Gaumont to high-precision performance roles at SharkNinja, joins with a clear mandate: to dismantle traditional silos. Her approach dictates that media strategy must be present from the very first creative spark, ensuring that every dollar invested does not just meet a KPI, but creates an “unignorable” presence capable of being discovered, shared, and experienced by the audience.
In this exclusive interview with Roastbrief, Cherie Johnson breaks down how her “human-centered, AI-assisted” model allows technology to handle operational precision while the team protects cultural instinct and emotional intuition. Johnson argues that storytelling is not the opposite of performance, but its secret engine, and explains why her 90-day priority is to elevate the media narrative toward a territory of boldness and relevance. Discover how this leader is redefining planning so that brands stop being mere advertisers and start becoming protagonists of cultural moments, proving that in 2026, the true competitive advantage lies in the ability to be authentically unforgettable.
1. The “Unignorable” Media Blueprint: A&G’s philosophy is to “Be Unignorable.” In your view, what is the first strategic principle or question you apply to a media plan to transform it from a standard paid buy into an “unignorable” brand presence that is “earned, discovered, shared, influenced, and experienced”?
The first question I ask is, what has not been done?
Not in a gimmicky way. Not just to be loud. But because if we are doing what everyone else is doing, we are going to get average results. And that is not why we are here.
For me, being unignorable starts with understanding the category really well. Where is it crowded? Where is it predictable? Where are brands just going through the motions? Then I push the team to ask, where can we break through in a smart way?
Yes, we have to get the fundamentals right. We have to reach the right audience. We have to drive to a real business KPI. That is non-negotiable. But a plan that only checks the boxes is not going to build memory or momentum.
So I always come back to this. How do we make the dollars work harder than the flight? How do we create something that people notice, talk about, share, or experience in a way that lives beyond the paid media window?
Creative plays a huge role. But media is not just a distribution channel. It is the stage. It is the environment. It is how the brand shows up in someone’s real life. So I am always looking for ways to show up in unexpected places, in cultural moments, in partnerships or integrations that make people pause and say, wow.
To me, that is the shift. We are not just placing media. We are building presence. And when you design it that way from the start, the brand does not just run. It stands out.
2. Bridging Entertainment & Performance: With a deep background in entertainment marketing (Gaumont, Game Show Network) and performance-driven roles (SharkNinja, MRM), how do you fuse those two mindsets? Can you give an example of how an entertainment storytelling approach can directly solve a hard business KPI in a media plan?
I love this question because it really gets at how I think about media.
Working in entertainment, whether at Gaumont or Game Show Network or agency side, was some of the hardest and most rewarding work of my career. In entertainment, you cannot play it safe. You are launching something new into a crowded cultural moment. You have to create anticipation. You have to make people feel something. You have to be a little fearless.
When I moved into more performance-driven roles like SharkNinja and MRM, the KPI pressure was different. It was not ratings or ticket sales. It was revenue. It was ROAS. It was MQLs and conversion rates. At its core, performance marketing is really about determining how to invest media dollars in a way that generates the greatest value and return. But what I realized quickly is that storytelling is not the opposite of performance. It is often the unlock.
Entertainment teaches you how to build narrative and emotional tension. Performance marketing teaches you how to measure what works and optimize where and how you invest those dollars. When you fuse the two, you stop thinking in channels and start thinking in journeys.
For me, the fusion happens at the strategy level. The storytelling is not just a nice layer on top. It is built to drive a specific behavior. And the performance framework is not narrow or transactional. It is about making sure the investment is working as hard as possible to capture and compound the momentum that strong storytelling creates.
The mistake is thinking you have to choose between brand and performance. The real leverage happens when brand storytelling is engineered to move a hard business KPI, whether that is sales, applications, deposits, or market share.
3. The Human-Centered, AI-Assisted Model: You’re joining an agency that has spent two years building a media practice on “human-centered creativity within an AI-assisted model.” What does that balance look like in your daily leadership? Where do you insist on human intuition and cultural instinct, and where do you fully delegate to AI and automation for precision and scale?
This was honestly one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come to A&G.
I do not think AI is the enemy. I also do not think it is the hero. It is a tool. A very powerful one. But still a tool.
I use it when my brain is stuck. I use it to pressure test thinking. I use it to move faster through data, workflows, scenario planning, audience builds, and all the things that can eat up hours of time. If AI can take friction out of process and give my team more space to think, that is a win.
Where I get protective is around instinct.
AI can process information. It cannot feel culture. It cannot sense when something feels safe. It cannot sit in a room and read the energy. It cannot understand the nuance of a brand’s history or the emotional weight behind a decision. That is human. That is experience. That is leadership.
In my day to day, I fully lean into AI for precision and scale. Data synthesis. Optimization patterns. Workflow improvements. Anything that helps us be sharper and more efficient.
But when we are talking about how a brand shows up in the world, how we make something unignorable, how we tap into real human tension, that is not delegated. That is debated. That is crafted. That is felt.
The work our creative team delivers is authentic and grounded in real human truth. AI cannot replicate that. It can support it. It can make the process smarter. But it cannot replace taste, courage, or cultural instinct.
So for me, the balance is simple. Use AI to make us better operators. Protect the human piece that makes the work matter.
4. Dismantling Silos in Practice: Your mandate is to help dismantle traditional silos between media, creative, strategy, and analytics. What is one concrete, operational change you plan to implement—like a new process, meeting structure, or team configuration—to ensure media thinking is embedded from the very first spark of a creative idea?
For me, this one is actually pretty simple.
Have media in from the beginning.
Do not bring us in after the idea is already formed and ask, where can this run? If we really want to dismantle silos, media has to be part of the first conversation.
Operationally, I would formalize joint kickoffs. Strategy, creative, paid/owned/earned media and analytics in the same room at the same time, aligned on the business problem and the KPI from the start. One shared brief. Clear success metrics upfront. No downstream handoffs where we are reacting instead of shaping.
I also believe in real working sessions, not presentations to each other. Creative sharing early territory. Media pushing on context and environment. Analytics weighing in on how we will measure impact before anything is locked. That back and forth makes the work stronger.
When media is embedded early, we are not just placing assets. We are helping design how the idea lives in the world. Where it shows up. How it shows up. How it gets discovered, shared, and experienced.
So the shift is this. No more bringing media in at the middle or the end. We build it together from day one.
5. The Capstone of a Transformation: As the “capstone hire” in a two-year media practice overhaul, what is your first 90-day priority to signal this new chapter internally to the team and externally to clients? Is it about introducing a new proprietary tool, redefining the agency’s media POV, or reshaping the narrative in a new business pitch?
For me, how I am focusing in the first 90 days is less about launching something flashy and more about setting the tone.
Internally, I am focused on clarity and momentum. I want the team to feel proud of what has been built over the last two years and clear on where we are going next. That starts with listening. What is working? Where are we feeling friction? Where do we have untapped opportunity?
From there, I am focused on tightening and clearly articulating our media POV. Not something that lives in a deck, but something the team can confidently speak to. How we think. How we collaborate. What makes our media work unignorable. How we connect creativity to real business impact.
Externally, I am focused on making sure clients feel the shift. More proactive thinking. More integration with creative and strategy from the start. A stronger connection between media decisions and business outcomes. Media that feels intentional, not just executed.
I am not trying to over engineer the first 90 days. I am focused on alignment, energy, and sharpening how we show up.
