Helping You Deliver Ambitious Digital and Brand Projects That Actually Succeed
I work with category leading brands that know their business, their brand, and how digital drives growth. I don’t force my own ideas—I help shape yours and make them happen.
Why Do So Many Projects Fail?
Thinking about digital transformation, a major overhaul of how you sell online, launching a new online service, replacing a critical system or a rebrand?
Big, ambitious digital and brand projects are exciting—but they’re also risky. Around 70% of projects fail according to McKinsey.
Why? It’s not usually the idea itself that’s the issue. It’s the execution.
Ideas that are too ambitious, expensive or unfeasible for the organisation to deliver.
Teams struggling with alignment, adoption, competing agendas and miscommunication.
Poor decisions made on the route forwards such as suppliers and technology.
Overloaded resources and skills gaps that put unnecessary pressure on internal teams.
Lack of planning, prioritisation or governance leading to missed objectives.
Ideas or deliverables not scrutinised through the eyes of the customer.
Turning Challenges Into Success
I specialise in helping clients deliver ambitious digital and brand projects. With over 15 years of experience across branding, marketing, user experience, operations, tech consulting, venture capital, and project management, I bring the knowledge needed to close the gap between bold ideas and practical execution.
Direction
I help determine whether a major project makes sense for your organisation—whether it suits your objectives, adds value to the customer, and delivers a measurable impact on the business.
Buy-in
Ambitious projects often require significant change, leading to competing agendas and resistance. I ensure alignment by fostering collaboration and bringing ideas to life in ways that engage stakeholders and drive adoption.
Feasibility
I evaluate whether your project is achievable within organisational constraints, considering technology, people, budgets, and processes to ensure a realistic path forward.
Delivery
I oversee project planning, management, vendor selection, and governance. By lifting the load off internal teams, I free them to focus on their strengths while ensuring efficient, impactful delivery through clear processes and accountability.
My Skills
Every organisation is unique, and every project requires a tailored approach. My skills span strategy, execution, and everything in between to meet the distinct needs of your business and customers.
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Ensuring every idea aligns with your objectives and brand, adds value for customers, and delivers measurable results.
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Shaping bold ideas into innovative, practical, and impactful services and products that resonate with your audience.
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Managing every stage of the product lifecycle—from prioritisation to planning and delivery—while keeping business objectives and customer needs at the forefront.
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Helping you make informed decisions about the tools and partners needed to support your ambitions effectively and efficiently.
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Coordinating complex initiatives with precision, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and with lasting impact.
Delivering impact in retail, property, insurance, finance, wealth management, luxury, travel and publishing
Featured Work
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Noble Panacea
Transforming the online customer experience for this ultra-luxury skincare brand, I overhauled their direct-to-consumer channel, enhanced operational systems, and delivered an ambitious roadmap. The result? A digital presence that aligns with their science-driven, luxury ethos.
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Central Retail
Reimagining eCommerce for one of Asia’s largest retailers, I conceptualised the future of online shopping for Central Group’s department store and supermarket chains. With bold ideas and innovative features, we delivered a visionary platform that matched changing consumer behaviours and Central’s market leadership.
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Knight Frank
Revitalising the “My Knight Frank” platform, I led the redesign to create a user-first experience for this global real estate leader. From strategy to delivery, the project introduced intuitive features, modern aesthetics, and a robust design system, ensuring the platform reflected the brand’s sophistication.
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Diriyah
I helped Diriyah bring the future of exclusive living to life digitally, creating an immersive online experience for Wadi Safar, Saudi Arabia’s most prestigious residential development. With innovative concepts and a luxury-driven approach, the project set a new benchmark for digital placemaking.
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Office
Redesigning eCommerce site for one of the UK’s leading footwear retailers, Oversaw delivery of a bold new look and intuitive shopping experience that elevated OFFICE’s brand while streamlining the customer journey. The result was a modern, high performance website built for growth.
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Stylus
For this global trends intelligence platform, I led the strategy and delivery of a modernised digital experience. Through a streamlined interface, tailored user journeys, and bold design, the project positioned Stylus as a cutting-edge resource for innovation.
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Toronto Dominion Bank
Designing and building a sophisticated trading app for TD Bank’s private clients, I delivered an intuitive platform that empowered users to trade global securities with ease. Deep integration, robust security, and user-focused features ensured the app’s success, with over 100,000 downloads and stellar reviews.
Why Work With Me?
Delivering ambitious projects requires more than great ideas—it takes the right skills, experience, and approach to turn those ideas into reality. Here’s what makes me a bit different:
Inside, but outside in
Some critical strategy and management skills are best delivered internally rather than via external agencies. By working closer to your teams, I align seamlessly with your objectives, provide greater transparency, and offer an outside-in perspective when needed.
Scale up, Scale Down
Big projects often demand new and diverse skills—but not forever. I provide flexible, on-demand expertise, preventing your internal teams from becoming overstretched while ensuring every project milestone is delivered effectively.
Multi-DISCIPLINED
With experience spanning branding, marketing, user experience, operations, technology consulting, finance, and project management, I understand how different areas of a project impact each other. This enables me to communicate effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders.
Cross Industry
My experience across industries—including retail, luxury, finance, property, and travel—provides fresh perspectives and valuable lessons, whether through disruptive ideas or avoiding common pitfalls in execution.
Fred Beatson-Hird
A little bit about me…
Hello, I’m Fred, founder of You Not Me. I started the company to address a gap in how brand and digital projects are delivered. Too often, agencies and consultancies fall short when it comes to answering the critical question: how do we make this work in practice? Often getting stuck on the idea rather that the constraints of your business or how change impacts its different areas. My goal is to bridge that gap.
Over the past 15 years I've worked across venture capital, tech consulting, branding, and marketing. I’ve worked in retail, finance, banking, investment management, travel, and publishing—building a deep understanding of how these industries operate and how businesses succeed.
I’m not here to force a vision on you—I’m here to listen, collaborate, and work as an ally to ensure that the questions of what and how we deliver change are answered properly. I'm a good listener, I work by measurable results and I enjoy a good challenge.
I’ve had the privilege of working with some well-known brands and agencies throughout my career. My last role was at Matter Of Form, a luxury creative agency, where I led consulting for brand and digital transformation. Before that, I sold a tech consultancy to HAVAS, where I became a partner after a five-year career in venture capital.
Outside of work, I’m always on the hunt for new places to eat, a regular at Brentford FC (my local football team), and you’ll often find me behind the decks DJing or digging into my ever-expanding music collection.
Facing a specific challenge?
I offer a half-day of my time to address a particular challenge or objective your business is facing. After an initial 30-minute conversation, I’ll dive into the problem and present actionable, measurable solutions and insights tailored to your business. Whatever the ask, I’ll make sure I provide something that is immediately actionable