Lesson Certificates

Module 1 — Domain Theory · LIVE

What it proves: You can analyze a business's marketing strategy through the canonical theoretical lenses and articulate where it succeeds or fails.

Micro-portfolio (~60 min)

Pick a business you don't own or work for (a real company you have visibility into — your favorite SaaS tool, a brand you buy from, a venture you've considered investing in). Write a 1-page marketing-strategy analysis covering: (a) the Levitt test — what business do they think they're in vs. what need do they actually serve? (b) penetration vs loyalty diagnosis — do they appear to be a small brand fighting double-jeopardy or a large brand defending leadership? (c) a distinctive-asset audit — name 2-3 distinctive brand assets they own (or note their absence), (d) a brand-equity vs activation read — does their visible marketing skew brand or performance, and is that mix appropriate for their stage?

Rubric — 5 dimensions

1. Levitt test correctly applied — distinguishes the product they sell from the customer need they serve; specific, not generic
2. Penetration/loyalty diagnosis grounded — uses brand-size and category context, not opinion; correctly identifies the relevant lever
3. Distinctive asset audit — names specific, testable assets (colors, sounds, characters, formats); distinguishes distinctive from merely differentiated
4. Brand-equity/activation read — observable evidence of their marketing mix; defensible call on appropriateness given stage
5. Calibrated honesty — no hallucinated claims; everything traces to observable evidence (URLs, ads, public earnings/reports); acknowledges uncertainty where present

Pass = ≥4 of 5 at threshold · 2 peer reviewers + 10% staff QA sample · Fail = 14-day cooldown then retry