Achieve
Achieve  ×  Workplace Intelligence

Your secret weapon for owning the category.

Most partners sell you access. A list, a booth, a one off send. We help you own the conversation your buyers are already having. Proprietary research that earns the headlines, and an activation engine that fills the rooms and builds the pipeline.

Research finds the problem and earns the pressActivation fills the rooms and builds the pipeline
Part One

The Playbook

Before the offer, the point of view. This is how the best marketing teams in the people space source pipeline that compounds, and why owning a category now takes more than events alone.

01 The Pipeline Plateau

Marketing spend has to work harder than it ever has.

Budgets are flat. Acquisition costs are not. The tactics easiest to justify on a spreadsheet keep getting more expensive and less durable, while the assets that actually compound, brand and community, are the first to get starved.

7.8%
Average marketing budget as a share of revenue, roughly 18 percent below where it sat four years ago.
Gartner, 2026
~60%
The rise in B2B customer acquisition cost over the past five years as rented attention gets pricier.
Industry benchmarks, 2026
Companies with a strong brand strategy are twice as likely to exceed their growth goals.
Gartner, 2026
Flat budgets and rising acquisition costs punish the same thing: paying to rent an audience you never get to keep.
02 The Framework

Rent. Build. Own.

Every pipeline dollar falls into one of three tiers. They are not good or bad. They compound differently, and most teams are dangerously overweight the first one.

01 Fast, flat, gone

Rent

You pay for temporary access to someone else's audience. It works the day you pay and evaporates the day you stop.

  • Purchased lists and cold data
  • Badge scans from a rented booth
  • One off webinars and single sends
Resets to zero every quarter.
02 Earned, repeatable

Build

You show up where the right buyers gather and earn a relationship in the room. Trust starts accruing.

  • Sponsored sessions and speaking
  • Curated dinners and roundtables
  • Recurring presence in a trusted community
Each touch makes the next one cheaper.
03 Durable, compounding

Own

A relationship and reputation with your buyers that persists between campaigns. Your ICP expects to see you.

  • Series based partnerships
  • A named point of view the market repeats
  • Advocates who return
Pipeline that shows up before you spend.
Rent buys reach. Build buys trust. Own buys a head start on every future quarter.
03 The Rule of Seven

Nobody buys on the first touch.

There is a number every seasoned marketer keeps coming back to. It takes roughly seven touches before a buyer acts. Not one. Seven. It is the oldest rule in the discipline, and it is the one that decides whether a program builds pipeline or just builds activity.

Touches 1-2

Stranger

They half-notice you. Nothing is earned yet. This is the most expensive touch you will ever buy, because you are reaching someone cold.

Touches 3-5

Familiar, then trusted

Your point of view starts to register, seen more than once, in more than one place. Recognition turns into credibility.

Touch 7+

Ready to act

Now the ask lands, because it arrives on top of six touches that made it feel obvious instead of cold.

This is the mechanism underneath Rent, Build, and Own. A one-off engagement buys a single touch and then stops, which is why it evaporates. Category ownership is what happens when the right buyers see you land the same point of view again and again until buying is the natural next step. It is also why we build in campaigns, not one-offs: the first touch is the priciest, every touch after it gets cheaper, and quitting after one means you paid full freight for the hardest part and walked away from the payoff.

A single webcast asks a stranger to buy on the first hello. A campaign earns the seventh touch, where the buying actually happens.
04 Beyond Own

Owning a category is a position the market grants you.

Rent, Build, and Own describe where pipeline comes from. They do not, by themselves, make you the leader. That takes deliberate plays. These are the six that earn the position and widen the moat once you hold it.

01 Movement Marketing

Start the shift

Do not just solve a problem. Name the shift and gather people around it. Category leaders run a movement, not a campaign.

02 Category Ownership

Plant the flag

Pick the category you intend to own, then run the initiatives that make you its definitive voice on the problem that matters most.

03 Market Leadership

Be undeniable

Nobody becomes the leader by accident. Do things the market has not seen, and be seen alongside the other leaders your buyers already trust.

04 Strategic Content and Customer Development

Move them A to B

You are moving a customer to where they want to be, and helping them become who they need to be. Reveal their next problem before they feel it.

05 Multi-Channel Acquisition

Meet every buyer

Reach multiple audience profiles with targeted messaging across multiple channels, not one database and one message.

06 Promotional Partnerships

Borrow other rooms

Build affiliates and allies who promote you. Reward and support the partners who put your point of view in front of their audiences.

Every one of these plays needs three things: a proprietary point of view the market repeats, a stage, and a room full of the right buyers. Almost no one has all three.
05 The Missing Engine

You cannot own a category on events alone. Or on research alone.

Research that never gets in front of anyone is just a stack of papers. Dinners and webcasts with no original insight behind them are just noise. The playbook tops out at Own, and Own only becomes category leadership when both halves fire together.

This is the part the market keeps trying to buy in pieces: a PR agency here, an events sponsor there, a research vendor somewhere else. None of them own the whole chain, so the story never compounds. Part Two is how we run the whole chain with you.

Part Two

The Offering: Achieve Workplace Intelligence

Build category ownership. Develop the research, then get it in front of your buyers. One engine, two channels: the intelligence that builds your credibility, and the access that turns it into pipeline. This is not a menu of services. It is the way we work, one team running the whole chain with you, quarter over quarter.

06 The Two-Channel Engine

The intelligence builds credibility. The access builds pipeline.

Owning a category takes two things working together: a proprietary point of view that makes you the authority, and a way to put it in front of the exact buyers you want. This is both, run as one engine.

Channel One · Build credibility

Leverage Workplace Intelligence

Proprietary research and data that make you the authority on the conversation you want to own.

  • Original, multi-audience research on the topic you want to own (up to 50 questions per audience)
  • A media-first narrative engineered to break through the noise
  • A proprietary data set you own outright and reuse across sales, marketing, and PR
  • A year over year benchmark competitors cannot go back and replicate, the thought-leadership moat
+
Channel Two · Build pipeline

Access & Distribute Your Message

Get that research in front of the exact buyers you want, at national scale and across the table. This is what builds category ownership, pipeline, and relationships with your ICP and decision makers.

  • National and trade press through a 15 year newsroom network, from the WSJ and Fortune to CNBC and the Today Show
  • LinkedIn newsletter 380K+ and social amplification 400K+
  • Share of voice that drowns out a named rival, the way one client reached 90 percent versus its competitor
  • Direct reach into a community of 35,000+ senior people leaders (13,300+ Director and above)
  • Webcasts, Leadership Exchange dinners, and achieveCPR Live that put you in the room with your ICP
  • BDR and direct outreach to 5,000+ more target-account contacts per engagement
Research finds the problem. Your company delivers the solution. Problem gets the press. Solution gets the sales. And the whole thing lands in a room your buyers plan to be in.
07 The Combined Reach

A senior audience. And a national megaphone.

Two reach engines in one partnership. Achieve puts you in the room with the exact senior leaders you sell to. Workplace Intelligence puts your study in front of the world through national press and a 780,000+ owned audience.

Owned rooms and community · Achieve
35,000+
Qualified senior HR and People leaders in the community
3,400+
Decision makers reached directly, including 1,400+ CPOs and CHROs
~290
Registrants per webcast, 115+ live, all delivered as a warm follow-up list
30-50
Director-level leaders across the table at each Leadership Exchange
Earned press and digital megaphone · Workplace Intelligence
380K+
LinkedIn newsletter subscribers, plus a 14K insider email list
400K+
Social followers across LinkedIn, X, and Instagram
1,000+
Media placements generated across the research portfolio, from the WSJ to CNBC
1.2B
Impressions earned by a single recent study in its first four weeks
Together

One study reaches your market three ways: hundreds of millions of earned impressions through national press, 780,000+ through an owned newsletter and social audience, and 35,000+ senior leaders reached one to one. All of it backed by nearly 100 studies across 3.1 million respondents in 28 countries.

Full audience profile at footprint.achievenet.org and program detail at the partnership FAQ.

08 How It Works

One engagement, end to end.

Workplace Intelligence builds the asset. The moment it is ready for market, the campaign splits into two channels that hit together: earned media and owned activation. That parallel launch is where category ownership is won.

Phase 1 · Build the asset

Research and narrative

Discovery and strategy, topic development, questionnaire design, fielding, analysis, insight, and media-first narrative. Roughly 5 months for a US study, 6 for global.

Phase 2 · Earned channel

Media and PR

Media headlines, press release, and a media campaign with a 1,000+ placement track record. National and trade coverage that establishes the authority position.

Phase 2 · Owned channel

Achieve activation

Webcasts, Leadership Exchange gatherings, dinners, and community distribution launch in parallel, converting attention into meetings and pipeline in your target markets.

Awareness. National press and a 780K+ owned audience. The megaphone.
Engagement. Webcasts and community distribution to a senior ICP.
Decision. 30 decision makers across the table at a Leadership Exchange.
A PR agency stops at coverage. An events shop stops at a room. We run both channels off one research asset, so every headline has somewhere to land and every room has something to say.
09 The Experience, Stage by Stage

What it is like to run this with us.

A single engagement moves through two phases. First we build the asset. Then we take it to market through every channel at once. Here is what happens, what you get, and what it produces at each step.

The philosophy

PROBLEM gets the PRESS

Which is why

SOLUTION gets the SALES

Phase 1 · Build the asset

We build a proprietary study the market wants to talk about.

Workplace Intelligence runs the full research engine, from strategy to a media-ready narrative. This is the credibility half, and it is roughly 5 months for a US study, 6 for a global one.

01
Contract signed & pre-work
02
Kickoff call
03
Survey design
04
Survey fielding & reporting
05
Data analysis
06
Narrative development
07
Press release & white paper

Deliverables you own: proprietary data set, executive report, white paper, media headlines, and the story. About 5 months (US) or 6 (global).

The secret is who we survey, and the tension we find.

Every study samples both sides of the workplace so the data reveals a gap the media cannot ignore. That gap is the story.

B2B sample

  • C-Suite
  • HR leaders
  • IT leaders
  • Comms leaders
The Story
the tension the press wants

B2C sample

  • Salaried workers
  • Hourly workers
  • Freelancers
  • Job seekers & students
Phase 2 · Activate and reach your audience

Then we put it everywhere your buyers are.

The moment the asset is ready, it launches through earned media and owned activation at the same time. Here is the proof that the narratives break through, then the channels that carry them.

Headlines we have earned

As featured in

A single recent study earned 100+ placements and 1.2 billion impressions in its first four weeks. Coverage regularly lands in the WSJ, the New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, CNBC, Newsweek, VICE, and 1,000+ outlets more.

Media coverageMedia coverageMedia coverageMedia coverage

The activation channels, and what each one produces

Earned media & PR

Workplace Intelligence
Activities
Media-first narrative, pitching national and trade outlets, and executive interview coordination.
Outcome
Hundreds of placements, third-party credibility, and share of voice against your competitors.

Newsletter & social

Workplace Intelligence
Activities
Featured in the LinkedIn newsletter (380K+) and insider email, plus organic social across 400K+ followers.
Outcome
Amplified reach, tracked traffic back to your landing page, and top-of-funnel leads.

Webcasts

Achieve
Activities
A 60-minute session (your experts or produced by us), promoted to the full community plus outreach to your top 50 accounts.
Outcome
~290 registrants and 115+ live, a full registration and attendance list, on-demand leads, and an edited video.

Leadership Exchange

Achieve
Activities
Invitation-only dinner (30) or half-day workshop (50), with half the room sourced by us to match your ICP.
Outcome
30 to 50 Director-level leaders across the table, real relationships, and sourced pipeline in your target markets.

Integrated media campaign

Achieve
Activities
Sponsored email to 90K+ HR and People leaders, a banner in the bi-weekly e-newsletter, and a dedicated LinkedIn post.
Outcome
Broad, targeted reach into the community and a steady feed of leads.

achieveCPR Live & @work Summits

Achieve
Activities
Panel or keynote presence aligned to culture, performance, or retention, plus virtual watch parties.
Outcome
In-market presence in target US cities and qualified registrant lists.

Inside the rooms

"Our partnership continues to deliver real results for Fuel50. Across dedicated emails, webinars, and live experiences, the audience is engaged, the conversations are meaningful, and the connections turn into real opportunities for our team."

Ashley Levesque · VP of Marketing · Fuel50

"One of our most efficient event investments. They turn leadership conversations into meaningful content. The quality, professionalism, and creativity to tailor offerings to our needs are why we choose to return."

Lora D'Amico · Global Head of Events · HiBob
10 A Single Campaign, Week by Week

Every campaign runs on a proven cadence.

Each activation follows the same rhythm, so leads start flowing well before the live moment and the asset keeps working long after.

6 weeks out

Set up

Submission form completed and the registration page goes live. Promotion begins.

4 to 2 weeks out

Build the audience

Secondary then primary feature in the e-newsletter, targeted outreach to your top accounts.

1 week out

Drive registrations

Dedicated email and social push to fill the room.

Live moment

The webcast or the dinner

The research goes live in front of your ICP. Conversations and pipeline start here.

1 week later, then quarter over quarter

Convert and compound

Highlight reel, on-demand promotion, and a summary report. Each cycle widens the year-over-year moat competitors cannot replicate.

11 Help Us Help You

We fill the room. Converting it is a team sport.

Here is the honest part most partners will not say out loud. We can earn the headlines, fill the webcast, and put thirty of your buyers across the table, and it still will not become pipeline if the follow-through on your side is left to chance. The programs that win treat conversion as shared work. Here is who owns what.

What we run

Attention, access, and the asset

The research and narrative, the earned media, the webcasts and Leadership Exchange rooms, the community distribution, and a warm, qualified list handed to you after every activation. We bring the right buyers to the table and the reason they showed up.

What you run

The follow-through that closes

Speed and structure once the list is in your hands: reps who reach out fast, a real nurture that keeps leads warm, and internal alignment so the leads land with someone who works them. This is the half that turns a great room into revenue.

What you need to be ready to execute on

Before a campaign goes live, get this infrastructure in place. It is the difference between "we ran a webinar" and "we built pipeline."

Within 24 to 48 hours

Reps reach out

Direct, personal outreach to every engaged attendee while the conversation is still warm. Not a batch email. A human, fast.

Across 25 days

A real nurture

A structured sequence of roughly seven touches, built on value: the research, the frameworks, the peer access, not "just checking in." Seven touches is where buying happens.

Behind all of it

Alignment to convert

Sales, BDRs, and RevOps agreed on who owns the list and what happens next, before the room ever fills. A full room with no coverage converts nothing.

Here is the plan, and here is the likely outcome if you run it. Skip it, and this is the outcome you will actually get. We would rather set that expectation up front than split the difference later.

No team to run the follow-through? Let us help you help yourself.

If you do not have the BDR capacity or the operations to work the list, that is exactly the gap that quietly wastes the investment. Ask us about adding managed follow-up to your program: direct outreach and nurture sequences run alongside the campaign, so the pipeline you paid to create does not sit in an inbox nobody opens.

12 Proof

This is not a theory. It is a tested engine.

Nearly 100 research studies since 2012. More than 3.1 million respondents across 28 countries. A track record of breaking through the noise for brands you know.

Writer · AI Adoption in the Enterprise
100+ hits · 1.2B impressions

Over 100 media placements and 1.2 billion impressions in the first four weeks. Fortune, HBR, Business Insider, Fast Company, and more.

Oracle · AI at Work
2,000+ outlets

Featured in over 2,000 outlets worldwide across the campaign, plus multiple industry awards including Bulldog Gold and a SABRE finalist.

Deloitte · C-Suite Well-Being
3 years running

An annual study in 2022, 2023, and 2024 that let Deloitte own the well-being conversation year over year. The moat in action.

Achieve activation · Live rooms
4.9/5 experience

Recent Leadership Exchange and achieveCPR rooms averaged 4.9 out of 5, with more than half of attendees asking to continue with the partner.

Research partners include Oracle, Deloitte, Amazon, UKG, American Express, Randstad, WeWork, SoFi, VSP Vision, edX, One Medical, Upwork, GoTo, and more.

13 The Whole Chain vs. A Piece of It

Everyone else sells you half the engine.

PR and event partners can fill a room. Research firms can build the asset. Only Achieve Workplace Intelligence runs the entire chain, from the study that earns the headlines to the pipeline in your target accounts.

To build this in-house you would hire or retain a research vendor, a PR firm, a designer, and an event producer, and still not have the community or the world-of-work specialization. That stack runs well past $200,000 a year, about the cost of one senior hire, and still underperforms one integrated engine.

Most research firms cannot even distribute their own work. They hand over a report with no media rights and no megaphone. We are the opposite. We own the distribution, and because we live in the world of work, the research is built by people who know which questions earn headlines and which ones land with your buyers. Integration and specialization are the whole differentiator.

What you get Achieve Workplace Intelligencethe whole chain PR & Event Partners Research-Only Partners
Proprietary research study
Media-first narrative and headlines
National and trade PR (200+ journalists)
Newsletter and social amplification
Year over year benchmark moat
Webcast series to a senior ICP
Leadership Exchange dinners and workshops
achieveCPR Live presence
Community of 35,000+ senior leaders
Direct outreach to your target accounts
Full buyer-group pipeline activation
End-to-end category ownership
Buy the pieces separately and you pay three partners to hand off to each other. Run it as one engine and the story compounds instead of leaking at every seam.
14 The Compounding Case

Sold as parts, it adds up. Run as an engine, it multiplies.

Research on its own is a report nobody sees. Media on its own is reach with nothing behind it. Events on their own are rooms with no story to tell. Each one alone is a line item. Aimed at the same buyers over the same campaign, they stop adding and start multiplying.

Credibility

The research

A proprietary point of view makes you worth listening to. It is the reason the market takes you seriously instead of scrolling past.

× Reach

The megaphone

Earned media and an owned audience carry that point of view past your database, into the outlets and feeds your buyers already trust.

× Relationship

The rooms

Webcasts, dinners, and community turn attention into access: the same senior buyers, in the room, again and again.

Pipeline created Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Integrated campaign One-off, resets each time

A one-off spikes, then resets to zero. An integrated campaign is a larger investment up front that ramps quarter over quarter toward category ownership and pipeline you keep.

Put it in the language your CFO uses, which is money. We do not promise a number we cannot guarantee. We do the honest math with you instead: if your average deal is worth a set amount, then a defined number of right-fit conversations, at a realistic conversion rate, is your expected return. Framed that way, the investment up front stops looking like a cost and starts looking like what it is, a spend built to compound.

One study earns 100+ placements and moves through the rooms in a single campaign. A retainer PR firm, writing without a research anchor, often takes a full year to earn half that, and never puts you across the table from thirty buyers.
15 Three Ways to Partner

Pick your altitude. Then own it.

Three ways into the same engine, from a low-risk first quarter to a full category-ownership program. Start where you are, configure with add-ons, and step up as the moat compounds.

Entry / Trial

The Pulse Starter

Prove the engine in a quarter, then step up.

  • One pulse research study on a timely topic
  • One webcast to your ICP
  • One Leadership Exchange dinner
  • Digital media campaign and community distribution
The low-risk on-ramp. Built to prove value fast, then step up to the Pulse or Category Program.
Mid

The Pulse Program

Recurring intelligence, flexible and timely.

  • Quarterly-capable pulse research, questions evolve each quarter
  • Two webcasts and two Leadership Exchange dinners
  • Digital media campaign and community distribution
  • No media campaign, so faster delivery and no volume cap
The recurring layer that keeps you in market between larger studies. Uncapped.
High

The Category Program

Own the industry conversation for the year.

  • Comprehensive media study plus full earned-media campaign
  • Quarterly webcasts and 3 to 4 dinners across US metros, plus a half-day workshop
  • Digital media campaign, community distribution, and direct outreach to target accounts
  • Year over year benchmark ownership, the moat
Limited to roughly 12 partners per year. The scarcity is part of the value.

Configure to the account

The architecture stays the same. You choose the finish.

White paperExecutive reportAdditional markets and dinnersExtra webcastsGlobal or custom sampleCustomer benchmarkingInfographics and social toolkitKeynote or panel
16 What This Means For You

However you came to this page, here is your win.

A category-ownership program is rarely a solo decision. This is the rare investment that gives every function a reason to say yes, so you are not carrying it uphill alone. Find where you sit.

Where you sit
What your function is evaluated on
What this engine delivers you
Communications and PR
Earned coverage, top-tier placements, share of voice
Media-first research and a 200+ journalist campaign built to break through
Demand Generation and Marketing
Qualified leads, gated assets, sourced pipeline
White papers, landing pages, webcast lists, and community distribution
Brand
Awareness, thought-leadership positioning, category ownership
The annual study and the year over year benchmark that becomes your moat
Field Marketing
In-market presence, executive meetings, regional pipeline
Leadership Exchange gatherings and dinners in the markets you name
Product and Category
Launch impact, category creation, competitive framing
Topic design and the media narrative that names the shift you are leading
One study. One engine. A reason for everyone at your table to lean in, and the credibility to take it all the way up to your board.
17 Case Studies & Client Examples

Proof, by the study.

A sample of research campaigns and the coverage they earned. Nearly 100 studies since 2012, 3.1 million respondents, 28 countries.

Writer

AI Adoption in the Enterprise

60% of companies plan to lay off employees who won't adopt AI.
2,400 C-suite and employees. 100+ placements and 1.2B impressions in four weeks, across Fortune, HBR, Business Insider, Fast Company, Newsweek, and VICE.
UKG

The Fix Work

46% would not recommend their profession, and 84% would still work if they won the lottery.
2,800 global employees and leaders. Featured in Bloomberg, Fortune (x4), Forbes (x5), MarketWatch, Quartz, and SHRM.
edX

Navigating Work in the Age of AI

49% of CEOs believe most or all of their role could be automated by AI.
1,600 C-suite and employees. Landed the front page of the New York Times business section, plus the WSJ, Financial Times, and Fortune.
Oracle

AI at Work

82% of people believe robots can support their mental health better than humans.
12,000+ across 11 countries. 2,000+ outlets worldwide, plus a Bulldog Gold award and a SABRE finalist for research and planning.
Deloitte

C-Suite Well-Being

~70% of the C-Suite are seriously considering quitting for their well-being.
Run annually in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The clearest example of the year-over-year moat, letting Deloitte own the well-being conversation.
GoTo

Pulse of Work

Half of workers admit they are over-reliant on AI, and 62% say they treat it as a crutch.
2,500 global employees and IT decision makers. Coverage in Fortune, ZDNet, The Hill, and Forbes.

Client roster includes Oracle, Deloitte, Amazon, UKG, American Express, Randstad, WeWork, SoFi, VSP Vision, edX, One Medical, Upwork, GoTo, Writer, and more.

18 Voices From the Field

What the people leaders themselves say.

Beyond the vendors we build programs for, this is a community senior HR, People, and Employee Experience leaders keep coming back to. In their words, lightly edited.

Achieve has a rare ability to bring leadership and community together in practical ways. They don't just talk about best practices, they connect people, ideas, and strategies to drive real, sustainable high performance. Any organization would be fortunate to partner with them.

Jyl Feliciano, MBA
Global VP, People, Culture & Belonging, Highspot

Achieve's Leadership Network has become one of my favorite professional spaces. It's rare to connect with others truly in the trenches, where speakers share ideas they have actually tested. I walk away thinking "I can adapt this for us," not "this would never work here."

Bridgette McCullough, MPH
Principal Culture Advisor, Great Place to Work

The Achieve community continues to provide the most valuable return on my investment of time. I am continually impressed by the caliber of EX leaders and the intentional objectives set for each experience.

Darla Caughey
Director of Employee Experience, Austin Independent School District

Achieve's ability to distill complex, often overwhelming concepts into actionable insights brings tremendous value to HR leaders at every stage of their journey. I would recommend them to any organization looking to level up their engagement and culture practices.

Annie Rosencrans
People & Culture Director, Americas, HiBob

Achieve's sessions are packed with innovative strategies crucial for any leader trying to stay ahead. They have a unique ability to take a group of HR leaders into a deep, meaningful discussion where everyone leaves with a new idea, in a limited timeframe.

Jamy Conrad
VP of People & HR, TrustRadius

Achieve brought clarity, action, and accountability to a critical part of our organization's growth. Through hard conversations, coaching, and a Culture Day retreat, they gave our team both the space and the structure to make real progress on our mission, culture, and values.

Doria Johnson
Executive Director, Urban Tilth

Let us help you own the category.

Bring us the conversation you want to lead. We will build the research that earns the headlines and the activation that fills the rooms, and we will run it with you quarter over quarter.

Start a strategy conversation