Performance Marketing Foundations

Performance marketing taught the way it actually works in 2026 — not the promise on the brochure. The auctions you bid into, the machine you now govern instead of operating, the creative that became the lever, the measurement that tells the truth instead of flattering you, and the cadence that keeps it all stable. Eight deep modules, live simulators, hard CASE-method tests, and every claim sourced.

Modules

CASE

Test method

90%

To pass

You’ve cleared

Start here · the one idea behind all eight modules

Measured is not the same as caused

Performance marketing’s founding promise is that every dollar is measurable. Its founding trap is that the number you are measured by is supplied by the platforms selling you the media — and they have every reason to make it flattering. Adidas ran 77% of budget into performance steered by four attribution models, then a week-long site outage proved most of it wasn’t incremental. Uber switched off $100M and installs didn’t move. Airbnb halved the budget and revenue rose.

So this series is built around one discipline: separating what is measured from what is caused. You will learn to read a dashboard skeptically (modules 1, 6), govern the automated machine rather than fight it (3, 4), pull the lever that actually moves sales (5), and run the whole thing on a rhythm that lets it stay stable (8). Every module ends with a hard CASE-method test, and the tools inside — the auction simulator, the marginal-CAC dial, the reconciliation calculator — are the ones we use on client work.

We turned off $100 million of the annual spend out of $150 and basically saw no change in our number of rider app installs.
— Kevin Frisch, former Head of Performance Marketing, Uber — via WARC

Working tools built alongside this series: the CAC calculator, breakeven ROAS, MER calculator, and the marginal-CAC calculator.

Get certified by the world’s best performance training

Four steps to your certification

No sign-in, no account. Take the modules in any order, pass the CASE-method tests, and collect a passcode for each. Clear all eight plus the final exam and you’re certified.

Learn the module

Deep, practical lessons with live simulators, calculators, and field data — no fluff.

Pass the test

Hard, scenario-based CASE-method questions. Score 90% to clear the module.

Earn a passcode

Each pass reveals a secret code. Save it — re-enter any time to reclaim credit and jump ahead.

Get certified

Clear all eight modules and the final exam to unlock your certificate.

Already started? Enter a passcode to reclaim credit and jump straight to what you haven’t finished.

Curriculum · jump to any module

Eight modules

Auctions and economics first, then the machine, then the lever, then the truth, then the rhythm. Each module ends with a hard, subject-specific test; each pass unlocks a passcode.