Gmkt Proof Project Plan

---
name: gmkt-proof-project-plan
description: Plans a two-week marketing proof project on a real brand from public information, with the scope, the skills to run in order, a will-not-claim list and a source list. Use for "run gmkt-proof-project-plan", "I have no marketing experience to show", "plan a portfolio project", "spec campaign for a real brand", "how do I get experience without a job", "project for my marketing portfolio", "pick a brand for a practice campaign", part of the Claude for Marketing Graduates Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Proof Project Plan

## When To Use
Every ad wants marketing experience and you have none to show. This plans a short, self-initiated project on a real brand, using only public information, so you finish with work an interviewer can open and question. It answers: which brand, which question, which steps, and what you must never claim.

## When Not To Use
If you already ran a real campaign (a placement, a society, a part-time job), write that up with the Marketing Portfolio Case Study instead. If you cannot give it about two weeks of steady hours, run one skill on its own, such as the Competitor Content Audit, and show that.

## Inputs
- Two to five brands you care about, and why each one
- The role you are aiming for (social, content, email, campaigns, reporting), or a job ad
- Hours you can give each week, and whether this is also university work
If you have none of this, I start from the type of role you want and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
The Chartered Institute of Marketing's advice to junior marketers (FE News) names a portfolio of real projects alongside AI literacy and data fluency, and TARGETjobs says portfolios help marketing applicants stand out. A real brand beats a made-up one because the interviewer can check your research. The failure mode is the graduate who invents "results" for a campaign that never ran, then gets asked one follow-up question in the interview: this plan writes the will-not-claim list on day one.

## Workflow
1. Ask three questions: which brands are on your list and what draws you to each; which role the project should point at; how many hours a week, and is it also course work (if yes, everything stays within your university's rules).
2. Test each brand against criteria you set, defaulting to: a website and at least two active public channels, public reviews or comments to research, and a question a junior could answer. List what is visible for each; you pick one. Claude never claims to know the brand's internal numbers.
3. Write one campaign question in one line, for example "How could [brand] reach [audience] for [product] in [season]?" One question, one campaign, two weeks. Two questions means two projects; cut one.
4. Choose the skills in order from the role you aim at. A full run: Audience Persona, Jobs to Be Done Map, Competitor Content Audit, Creative Brief, Campaign Plan, two content pieces (Social Media Posts, Short Video Script or Email Newsletter), then the measurement plan from the Campaign Plan's control step. A reporting role swaps a content piece for the A/B Test Plan.
5. Lay out the days against your hours: research days, the brief, the plan, making the pieces, a review day with AI Draft Review and Claim Substantiation Check, and a write-up day. If the hours do not fit, cut skills, never the review day.
6. Write the will-not-claim list: no affiliation with the brand, no "client", no invented results, no brand logo used as if endorsed, no confidential or leaked data, no customer names or usernames.
7. Start the source list now: every page, review site and report you use, with the date read. Every claim in the project must trace to a line in it.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Proof Project Plan
## The brand and the question
Brand: [brand] | Why this brand: [your reason] | Role it points at: [role]
Campaign question: [one line]
## Brand check
| Brand option | Public channels seen | Reviews or comments available | Fits the criteria? |
|---|---|---|---|
| [brand] | [channels] | [yes / thin / no] | [yes / no, why] |
## Skills and days
| Day | Skill | What I produce | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| [day] | [display name] | [artifact] | [hours] |
## Will not claim
- [no affiliation, no client, no invented results, no logo as endorsement, no confidential data]
## Source list
| Source | Type | Date read | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| [page] | [website / review site / report] | [date] | [claim it supports] |
## Decision
[You decide the brand and the question by [date]; if it is course work, your tutor confirms the rules by [date].]
```

## Done When
- One brand and one campaign question, chosen by you
- Every day has a skill, an artifact and hours that fit your week, with a review day kept
- The will-not-claim list is written before any work starts
- The source list exists with at least the brand's own pages in it

## Quality Bar
- Public information only; nothing about the brand's staff or customers beyond public, aggregate content.
- "What I would measure and how" replaces results; no number appears without a source.
- The brand is never called a client, and the project is labelled self-initiated everywhere.
- Course-related work stays within your university's rules.
- The project is your work on public information; Claude never invents results, an affiliation or experience you do not have.

## Next
Run gmkt-portfolio-case-study (Marketing Portfolio Case Study) to write it up once done.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).