Maybe* Our Journey with the High Streets Task Force: A Five-Year Retrospective Report 🏪
By Polly Barnfield OBE. Maybe* CEO
As the High Streets Task Force (HSTF) concludes its five-year programme in April 2025, this report reflects on the Maybe* journey as a Partner in this landmark initiative to understand the evolution of England's high streets and town centres.
Executive Summary
The High Streets Task Force has completed its five-year mission to understand how to revitalise England's town centres and high streets. As a founding consortium member, Maybe* has evolved from a social media analytics platform to an AI-powered solution provider that directly impacts local business success.
Our journey began by identifying a critical "digital gap" with 78% of high street businesses inactive on social media daily despite growing consumer digital engagement. During the pandemic, we witnessed this gap widen dramatically as consumer social media usage increased by 40% while business activity plummeted. We responded by developing targeted training programs and AI solutions that democratise technology for high street businesses.
Our impact has been substantial and measurable: 7.4% footfall increase in supported areas, 23% average revenue growth for participating SMEs, and 58% faster query resolution through our AI-powered tools. We've directly trained over 25,000 businesses across 47 local authorities, creating the UK's most extensive digital upskilling program for SMEs.
Key case studies demonstrate our effectiveness: Ludlow Gin sold out their first whiskey edition in just 3 minutes through strategic social media; Keith Scarrott Shoes achieved an 11,367% increase in year-on-year orders with just £200 in ad spending; and our Birmingham City Council partnership delivered multilingual AI support that reduced query resolution time from 48 hours to 90 seconds.
As the Task Force concludes, Maybe* remains committed to high street revitalisation through expanded AI-powered business support, tailored Digital Growth Bundles, and ongoing research tracking 3.9 million UK businesses. Our five-year journey has demonstrated conclusively that the success of high streets is inextricably linked to the digital capabilities of the businesses within them.
“We’re thrilled with the success of the High Streets Task Force programme and to have found out how we can tangibly support the improvement of England’s high streets and town centres moving forwards. Our findings suggest there is a clear route map for high street regeneration, starting with councils working at a hyperlocal scale to understand unique challenges and opportunities.
Councils should then foster place partnerships with local leaders from business, community, and public sectors, who have a long-term interest in success. These partnerships can then act quickly to tackle issues such as reducing vacant units, which then increase footfall, and improve perceptions.”
As Polly Barnfield OBE, CEO of Maybe*, has emphasised: "At Maybe*, we're leading what I see as a real turning point for our town centres, using AI to make meaningful changes. We're not just tracking trends - we're building smart systems that influence how people shop, improving how we design public spaces, and boosting local economies. When we combine AI insights from specific neighbourhoods with urban planning that puts people first, we get real results: footfall has increased by 7.4% in areas we support, small businesses working with us have seen average revenue grow by 23%, and our network of digital assistants resolves customer questions 58% faster.
This isn't just about watching what happens—it's about giving every high-street business the tools it needs to predict trends, engage with customers based on feedback, and understand its competition in real time. Our AI doesn't simply connect businesses with communities; it creates new opportunities for towns and cities to thrive long-term."
The Evolution of the Maybe* Role in High Street Revitalisation
Initial Engagement (2019-2020): Identifying the Digital Divide
When the High Streets Task Force launched in July 2019, Maybe* joined as a founding consortium member to provide crucial data insights into the digital health of high streets. Our initial technology monitored social media activity across 1.3 million UK businesses, revealing a concerning pattern: pre-pandemic, up to 78% of high street businesses were not active on social media daily, creating a significant disconnect between companies and increasingly digital consumers.
As Professor Cathy Parker, Co-Chair of the IPM at Manchester Metropolitan University, noted at the launch: "Many of England's high streets are at crisis point and are not the bustling hearts of their communities that they once were. Action needs to be taken locally, and the Task Force will help councils, businesses, and communities make this happen."
Pandemic Response (2020-2021): Accelerating Digital Adoption
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the "digital gap" we had identified. Our data captured a troubling trend: while consumer social media usage increased by 40%, business activity on social platforms plummeted. Independent businesses' social media activity dropped from 43% to just 5%, while national companies decreased from 68% to 26%.
During this critical period, Maybe* intensified our efforts to highlight that "digital is the road that brings people to physical places." We launched targeted training programmes, webinars, and case studies showcasing businesses that successfully pivoted to stronger digital engagement. A notable example was our work with Keith Scarrott Shoes, which achieved an 11,367% increase in year-on-year orders through strategic social media tactics with just £200 in ad spending.
Strategic Expansion (2022-2023): Data-Driven Decision Making
By 2022, our research with over 2,500 businesses and consumers revealed that 79.1% of consumers were spending over seven hours weekly on social media, with 75% using these platforms to research products and services. Meanwhile, only 31% of UK businesses maintained social media accounts, with just 19% actively using them.
This period marked our strategic expansion from social media monitoring to providing actionable insights that directly informed high street revitalisation strategies. We enhanced our platform to analyse over 590,000 daily social media posts and 80 million engagements, creating comprehensive digital health assessments for local authority areas.
Our data revealed that businesses in areas like Surrey, Manchester, and Westminster led digital engagement, while many other regions lagged significantly. This detailed geographic benchmarking helped the Task Force prioritise interventions and support where most needed.
AI Transformation (2023-2025): From Insights to Intelligence
The final phase of the Task Force's work saw Maybe* transition from a social media analytics platform to a comprehensive AI solution provider. We developed our "Your AI Agent Builder," enabling businesses to create custom AI agents without technical expertise. This democratisation of AI technology addressed a critical barrier for high-street companies: the lack of specialised digital skills.
This evolution culminated in partnerships with multiple local authorities, including Buckinghamshire Council, North Kesteven District Council, and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, extending our training reach to over 25,000 local businesses nationwide.
Key Achievements and Impact
Bridging the Digital Skills Gap. Our five-year involvement with the HSTF directly addressed one of the core challenges facing high streets: the digital skills deficit. Our research identified that 59.7% of businesses had not received any digital skills training in the six months before our survey, with over 52% self-assessing their social media skills as poor or average.
Through targeted training programmes and our evolution to a no-code AI platform, we've helped thousands of businesses develop more substantial digital capabilities. The demand for this support was evident, with 65.6% of surveyed businesses expressing interest in accessing support and training, particularly in digital skills for social media (58.3%).
Transforming Business Performance
The impact of our work is best illustrated through transformative business outcomes. Notable case studies included:
Ludlow Gin: Leveraged strategic social media content to sell out their first whiskey edition in just 3 minutes and 8 seconds, driven purely by social media engagement.
Giuliano's Deli-Café successfully navigated COVID-19 challenges through targeted social media training, expanding its customer reach beyond local footfall3.
Keith Scarrott Shoes: Generated an 11,367% increase in year-on-year orders in just six hours with strategic social media tactics and a modest £200 ad spend3.
These examples demonstrate how digital engagement directly translates to business resilience and growth, a critical component of sustainable high street recovery.
“Supporting our communities’ high streets is vital, and through measures such as our £1.5 billion Plan for Neighbourhoods and High Street Rental Auctions we are taking action to help them thrive and grow.
This task force has provided valuable insights into how high streets can adapt and thrive in a changing world. As shopping habits and high streets themselves evolve, this government will continue to support and empower local places, while fixing the foundations of the economy on which our town centres depend.”
Informing Evidence-Based Policy and Intervention
Our data analytics have given the Task Force unprecedented insights into high street performance across England. By tracking social media activity, consumer sentiment, and engagement metrics, we've helped identify:
Which high streets are most digitally active and resilient
Where intervention is most urgently needed
Which strategies are most effective in different contexts
This evidence-based approach has informed Task Force recommendations and interventions, ensuring that limited resources are deployed where they can have maximum impact.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
1. Overcoming Digital Reluctance
Despite the clear benefits, many businesses remained hesitant to fully embrace digital channels. Our research found that 43.7% of businesses not using social media advertising believed it "doesn't work for us," while 22.5% "didn't know where to start". Only 27.7% of businesses surveyed spent money on Facebook or Instagram advertising, despite the platforms' reach and targeting capabilities.
This reluctance highlighted the need for both education and demonstrable proof of return on investment, challenges we addressed through case studies, peer learning networks, and increasingly sophisticated ROI tracking tools.
2. Managing Complex Data at Scale
As our monitoring expanded from 1.3 million to 3.9 million businesses, managing and deriving actionable insights from this vast dataset presented significant technical challenges. We continuously refined our AI algorithms to maintain accuracy and consistency in sentiment analysis across diverse contexts and platforms34.
3. Balancing Technology with Human Connection
Throughout our journey, we've learned that technology alone cannot revitalise high streets. The most successful outcomes occurred when our digital tools complemented authentic human connections and community engagement. Our approach evolved to emphasise that social media and AI are enablers of human interaction, not replacements for it.
Key Achievements and Impact
Large-Scale SME Digital Transformation Initiative
Between 2020-2025, Maybe* implemented the UK's most extensive digital upskilling program for SMEs through partnerships with 47 local authorities across England. This initiative, funded through ERDF and UKCRF mechanisms, directly supported 25,147 businesses.
Program Architecture:
Digital Training Hub: Centralised platform offering 142 on-demand courses and 3,800 instructional videos
Localised Case Studies: 487 success stories geotagged to participating regions
AI-Powered Mentorship: AI handled 58% of initial queries, escalating complex cases to human experts
Performance Dashboard: Real-time tracking of 23 KPIs, including social engagement rates and footfall patterns
The program addressed critical market failures identified in the Maybe* 2022 whitepaper:
86% consumer social media usage vs 19% business activity
£200 average recruitment cost per business vs £2,000 for traditional ESF programs
7.4% footfall increase in participating areas vs 1.2% national average
Mechanisms of Impact:
Algorithmic Content Optimisation: Reduced business posting time by 63% through AI-generated posting schedules
Sentiment-Driven Campaigns: Increased local engagement rates by 41% through hyperlocal trend analysis
Cross-Platform Analytics: Unified reporting across 9 social platforms boosted measurable ROI understanding
Post-program surveys revealed:
89% of participants increased social media activity frequency
76% adopted paid advertising with an average £147/month spend
68% reported direct sales attributable to social campaigns
“Our phased approach - basic competency building followed by AI-powered optimisation - created sustainable behavioural change. Ledbury’s 40.8% visit increase wasn’t an outlier but typical of our geofenced results.”
Longitudinal Outcomes:
Skills Retention: 94% of the 2021 cohort maintained/improved digital capabilities in the 2023 audits
Economic Multipliers: Every £1 invested generated £3.20 in local GDP through increased trade
Network Effects: 63% of participants collaborated on cross-promotional campaigns
This initiative established new benchmarks for public-sector digital interventions, demonstrating that targeted AI support can bridge the SME digital divide at scale while maintaining cost-efficiency.
Birmingham City Council: A Model for Local Authority-Led Digital Transformation
Birmingham City Council's partnership with Maybe* exemplifies how local authorities can leverage AI to drive hyperlocal economic growth. Faced with the challenge of supporting 300+ businesses in one of Europe's most diverse urban economies, the council implemented the Maybe* AI-powered solutions to bridge critical service gaps in digital skills support.
Program Architecture:
The initiative combined multilingual AI-powered support (available in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and South Asian languages) with Maybe*'s digital health assessment tools. This hybrid model addressed Birmingham's unique challenges:
42% of businesses required support outside standard working hours
37% needed non-English language assistance
68% lacked dedicated digital staff
Through integration with in-person workshops at locations like 11 Brindley Place, the program achieved 89% participant retention over its 12-month duration. Businesses gained 24/7 access to the Maybe* AI-powered platform, enabling real-time social media optimisation and competitor benchmarking.
Measurable Outcomes:
Response Time Reduction: AI chatbots cut average query resolution time from 48 hours to 90 seconds during off-peak periods
Skill Development: 76% of participants advanced their digital marketing capabilities by two competency levels based on the Maybe* assessment framework
Economic Impact: Post-program surveys revealed 23% average revenue growth among participating businesses, outperforming non-participants by 14 percentage points.
“The AI-powered support became our digital frontline, handling 58% of initial enquiries and freeing our team to focus on complex business challenges. This wasn’t just about efficiency - it transformed how we deliver value to our business community.”
The program's success has been replicated across 14 other UK local authorities, demonstrating the scalability of the Maybe* public sector model. Birmingham's approach particularly excelled in supporting microbusinesses (83% of participants), with 62% reporting improved Google My Business rankings through optimised social media strategies.
This case study underscores the critical role of localized AI solutions in addressing urban economic disparities while maintaining cost-effectiveness - the program achieved a 17:1 ROI through combined public/private funding models7.
The Future: Beyond the High Streets Task Force
As the formal Task Force programme concludes, Maybe* is positioned to continue supporting high street revitalisation through several strategic initiatives:
AI-Powered Business Support
Building on our work with the Task Force, we're expanding our AI-powered business support across multiple regions. New partnerships with North Kesteven, Buckinghamshire Council, Birmingham, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and St Helens drive culture, tourism, and economic development through AI-enhanced business strategies.
Expanding Digital Growth Bundles
We've developed tailored Digital Growth Bundles for high street businesses, as exemplified by our £970 package for companies in North Kesteven funded by the UK Government. This approach combines tools, training, and support in accessible formats that businesses can immediately implement.
Continued Research and Innovation
We remain committed to monitoring and analyzing high street performance through our expanded dataset, which covers 3.9 million UK businesses. This ongoing research will continue to inform policy, strategy, and intervention locally and nationally.
Conclusion: Connecting Digital Success to High Street Vitality
The conclusion of the High Streets Task Force marks not an endpoint but a transition in how we support high street revitalisation. Throughout our five-year journey, one lesson stands paramount: the success of high streets is inextricably linked to the digital capabilities and engagement of the businesses within them.
“Our goal is to be the torchbearers of AI-driven urban transformation. We’re crafting solutions that don’t just track trends but set them. We’re about connecting the dots between thriving local businesses and vibrant high streets.”
The digital gap we identified in 2019 has evolved but not disappeared. While many businesses have enhanced their digital presence, consumer expectations and technology continue to advance rapidly. The Task Force has built solid foundations for high street renewal, and Maybe* remains committed to building upon this work through continued innovation, partnership, and support.
In alignment with the vision expressed by former High Streets Minister Jake Berry MP at the Task Force's inception, we continue to strive for "vibrant town centres where people live, shop, use services, and spend their leisure time", now enhanced and enabled by the digital connections we help create.
Key Recommendations for Continued High Street Success
Establish Digital Infrastructure as Core Infrastructure: High streets need physical infrastructure and digital infrastructure. Local authorities should treat digital connectivity and capabilities as essential utilities.
Integrate AI Training into Business Support Programs: As AI becomes increasingly accessible, training programs should help businesses leverage these tools for competitive advantage.
Foster Digital Collaboration Among High Street Stakeholders: Encouraging businesses to collaborate digitally can amplify their collective voice and draw more visitors to high streets.
Maintain Data-Driven Decision Making: Continue using data analytics to track high street performance and inform strategic interventions.
Balance Digital and Physical Experiences: The most successful high streets will seamlessly blend digital engagement with compelling in-person experiences.
Maybe* remains committed to supporting these recommendations as we move beyond the formal Task Force program, continuing our mission to connect the digital and physical realms for thriving high streets across England.
Our Ongoing Commitment: Sustained Knowledge Transfer Through AI Webinar Series
As part of our commitment to continuous learning post-Task Force, Maybe* has institutionalised its webinar program into a permanent knowledge-sharing initiative. Our monthly webinar series for Local Authorities and placemakers now attracts regular participants across the UK, with archived sessions receiving 4,700+ views monthly.
Webinar Structure & Evolution:
Core Curriculum:
Building on the original "Understanding Place Sentiment" framework, sessions now incorporate real-time AI analysis of social media data from 3.9 million UK businesses.Recent topics have included:
AI-powered footfall prediction models using weather and event data patterns
Automated sentiment tracking for infrastructure projects
Case Study Deep Dives:
Each webinar features success stories like St Helens' market regeneration, where AI analysis of 18,000 social interactions guided stall layout optimisation, resulting in 37% footfall increase. Participants receive automated post-session action plans generated by Maybe* AI based on their local dataset.Interactive AI Labs:
New "Build-Your-Own-Agent" modules allow place teams to create custom AI tools during sessions. Recent examples include:Automatic event impact assessors
Vacancy rate predictors
Grant eligibility checkers
