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 in its third year of operation. Under founder Julie Gill, BPTW has established itself as a credible, research-backed workplace insights platform for NZ businesses — with a growing partner network, a community of past survey participants, and a seasonal attainment cycle that puts significant pressure on a lean team.
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 a small 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 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 toward 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:
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Michael stepped into day-to-day leadership of the activation — owning the communications calendar, partner activation, team direction, and campaign decision-making. This freed Julie to focus on growth, new commercial opportunities, and the strategic relationships that needed her most.
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BPTW has a well-established partner network. The work here was about creating stronger alignment, clearer connection points, and ways of working that were easier to access, replicate, and scale. Flux instigated personalised landing pages, outreach templates, and activation packs — giving each partner a simple, consistent pathway to activate their audience toward the survey.
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Two webinars were designed and executed as the commercial anchor of the activation. With over 200 registered across the series, the webinars served as both a retention tool for past participants and a direct acquisition channel reaching new audiences. Flux supported the digital lead on the META campaign running in parallel — contributing to activation creative and CTAs that drove registrations. Audience segmentation created targeted offers and communications, generating fast learnings that were applied in real time.
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Asana was implemented as the team's operational backbone. A communications calendar was built covering all audiences — past participants, partners, named accounts, and the broader newsletter database — through to the May 29 close. Templates, folder structures, and naming conventions were established so the team could operate independently after the engagement and carry the systems into the 2026/27 cycle.
What did BPTW achieve?
[X]% increase in survey completions year on year — 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
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
Communications calendar built through to May 29 survey close, covering email, LinkedIn, newsletter, and partner channels
Asana implemented as team operating system with clear task ownership, weekly rhythm, and handover documentation
Key learnings from audience segmentation and webinar performance captured and built into what will become an ongoing market engagement programme
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 with full context meant I could keep moving fast and jump on new opportunities without losing momentum on the activation. 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."
— 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