CLIENT CASE STUDY: Workplace Insights / Survey Business | SMB | New Zealand | Feb–May 2026 | Fractional CMO Sprint

Taking the Weight: A Fractional CMO Sprint with Best Places to Work

Client Snapshot

Embedding an experienced fractional CMO alongside a founder-led workplace insights business to lead activation, reduce cognitive load, and build repeatable systems — in the middle of its most ambitious growth cycle yet.

What did Best Places to Work need to solve?:

Best Places to Work New Zealand is a workplace survey, insights, certification and recognition program helping Kiwi businesses understand, improve and celebrate their employee experience.

Now in its third year, BPTW has grown beyond its annual survey programme to include awards, certifications, masterclasses, events and partner-led education, creating a wider ecosystem for leaders and HR teams who want to build better places to work.

Under founder Julie Gill, BPTW has established itself as a credible, insight-backed voice in the New Zealand workplace conversation, combining practical insight with community, recognition and events.

By early 2026, the business faced a familiar founder challenge. Growth was accelerating and new opportunities were emerging but the operational load of leading commercial outcomes, managing partners, overseeing the team, and maintaining stakeholder relationships was concentrating in one place.

Julie needed a senior operator she could trust to step in and take ownership of the heart of the business (survey activation) so she could stay focused on growth, strategic relationships, and the ambitious plans she had for the business.

The specific challenge: drive survey attainment from March to the May 29 deadline while activating the partner network, running a webinar series, managing team members, and building repeatable ways of working that could carry into future cycles.

How did Flux approach the work?

Flux embedded Michael Friedberg as a fractional CMO for a three-month sprint — working directly inside the BPTW team from February through May 2026.

The engagement was structured around four priorities:

What did BPTW achieve?

  • Increase in survey completions year on year with a larger number of net new customers in the mix, driving a strong increase in customer lifetime value and future revenue — in a market where discretionary business spending was under pressure

  • Over 200 registrations across the webinar series, with almost 100 new contacts added to the database, each representing a future survey participant, partner, or long-term relationship in the BPTW ecosystem

  • New contacts followed up with segmented communications — including high-value founder outreach and targeted offers based on attendance and engagement

  • META campaign delivered in market, reaching new audiences, with activation creative and CTAs developed collaboratively with the digital lead

  • Partner network activated with personalised landing pages, outreach templates, and activation packs — creating a more consistent and repeatable engagement model

  • Founder freed to focus on growth and new commercial opportunities throughout the activation period

  • Ongoing strategic counsel across the business — giving the founder a senior thinking partner for decisions beyond the immediate activation, available as the business continues to grow and evolve

"Having a senior leader step in who matched our pace and earned trust fast meant I could keep moving and jump on new opportunities without losing momentum. Michael brought strategic thinking across the whole business, not just his lane, which meant the decisions we made were better and faster. Flux is already lined up for the next sprint."

Julie Gill, Founder and CEO, Best Places to Work

If your business needs a senior operator to step in and take ownership of a commercial outcome — that's what Market Team in a Box was built for.

Reach out at hello@fluxb2b.nz or explore the programme at fluxb2b.nz/market-team-in-a-box

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