Marketing needs an objective standard that cannot be gamed by charisma
Marketing Skills Alliance is an independent system for calibrating marketer qualifications and protecting commercial budgets. A unified evidence-based standard for both junior specialists and marketing directors — grounded in peer-reviewed research, not interview impressions.
No interviewer subjectivity or agency bias
Grounded in 50+ years of econometrics and consumer choice laws
Official numbered certificate and inclusion in the rating
Who the Marketing Skills Alliance Standard is for
specialists and directors have supported the manifesto
peer-reviewed research centers
Junior (basics) • Middle (calculations) • Senior (cases)
revenue growth rate for certified teams (McKinsey)
Join the movement for objective standards
We unite specialists, marketing directors, HR professionals and business owners who share the value of an evidence-based approach and transparent qualification.
Express support for the standard
Join the community of specialists, marketing directors and business owners who share the value of an evidence-based approach and transparent qualification. Signing takes less than a minute.
Why the marketing market needs transparent qualification calibration
The absence of a unified evidence-based standard directly harms business: ad budgets swell, expensive hiring mistakes occur, and strong specialists lose motivation in a sea of charismatic amateurs.
Presentation and charisma instead of verifiable knowledge
Marketing hiring relies on subjective interview impressions rather than an objective competency map. Confident speech and trendy terminology are easily mistaken for professionalism.
Business pays twice for incompetence
Business pays twice: first, with the salary of an employee who learns at the expense of the company's ad budget while making basic mistakes. The second time — when rehiring.
Experience on paper ≠ knowledge of growth laws in practice
Long tenure on a resume often means narrow-tool work without understanding market laws. A well-prepared specialist with an evidence base gets filtered out due to a lack of formal years.
"Marketing must follow the example of finance, medicine and engineering: abandon subjective impressions and move to accumulating empirical evidence. Professionals must regularly confirm their independent qualification."
Qualification standards: from baseline verification to the top league
Each level of the MSA standard solves a specific task: filters out amateurs at the entry point, calibrates the analytical skills of practitioners and confirms the strategic leadership of directors. Each next level unlocks only after successfully passing the previous one.
Based on peer-reviewed data, not opinions
All MSA test items, cases and qualification scales are grounded in foundational research from marketing science and econometrics institutes, with a combined 50+ years of data and hundreds of thousands of observations.
Double Jeopardy Law, mental and physical availability, Category Entry Points, purchase duplication laws.
The 60/40 balance, long-term branding impact on price elasticity, analysis of 1000+ proven business cases.
Media planning, incrementality measurement, cross-channel attribution and econometric models.
Emotional response, Distinctive Brand Assets, neurobiological anchors and long-term memory retention.
The qualification question bank is updated every 3 months based on new publications in the Journal of Marketing Research and WARC reports.
A level the market can see, not just you
Every specialist who passes the MSA qualification audit is added to a public registry with a verified skill map. Companies use this list for direct headhunting without extra interview rounds.
Initiative tools
To embed the transparency standard at every market level, we build more than just one test. We are constructing a complete infrastructure for specialists, businesses and academia.
For specialists
Career growth, independent assessment and learning tools.
For business
Solutions for team assessment, cost reduction and hiring.
For the whole market
Building a transparent professional landscape.
All tools serve one idea: marketing must be measurable, and qualification must be verifiable.
How companies use the standard to develop teams
An assessment that reveals what's invisible from inside
"The detailed competency analysis helped me understand my weaknesses and build a development plan. Within three months I closed key gaps in product marketing and was able to justify a marketing budget increase to the board."
Anna Tarayan
Head of Marketing"I use the open rating to evaluate candidates during hiring. The Marketing Skills Alliance certificate has become an important objective indicator of professional level. It saves us hundreds of hours of useless charisma-based interviews."
Dmitry Safin
Marketing Director (CMO)"The free test gave me a baseline understanding, and the premium report revealed all the details of my blind spots. Personal recommendations for Ehrenberg-Bass literature incredibly helped my career growth."
Lina Kim
Performance MarketerIf you are responsible for hiring or education in marketing
We work with companies that want to hire and grow a team based on a verified level rather than just interview impressions. And with universities and educational programs that want their graduates to enter the market with a confirmed — not claimed — level.
For companies
Objective candidate assessment, marketing department audits, access to a closed base of verified Middle and Senior specialists.
For universities and educational programs
Integration of the independent assessment standard into curricula, thesis defense before MSA experts, and joint diploma issuance.