> Oddly, up to that point I was senior enough to daily manage the budget, but not senior enough that my opinion on what to do was taken seriously.

Good freaking lord you hit the nail on the head here about most of marketing career!

Then you get in trouble because your boss's boss wants better ROI and blames YOU for an overextended budget because you manage the money, but you just have to sit there and take the blame because your immediate boss won't budge on the strategy.

Thankfully I've moved up, but I feel that pain so bad.