David is a senior manager in Adobe’s EMEA corporate communications team, where he is responsible for developing and implementing communications and PR strategies that define and promote Adobe’s corporate identity and mission in the region.
He brings to the role a strong blend of leadership, strategic, and tactical experience having previously led the stakeholder communications for EY’s wavespace unit based in London Bridge. There, he used the art of storytelling to help client C-suites articulate transformation projects across their businesses, whilst also demonstrating EY wavespace’s impact to key internal stakeholders.
Previously, David’s career had largely been spent in the third and purpose sectors. He was Head of Editorial at The Conduit, producing content that traversed formats including think pieces, photo-essays, short form video, podcasts, newsletters, events, and social media content. He led the digital stakeholder engagement for the Association of Commonwealth Universities, before leading the global communications and marketing for the Chevening Awards, the UK Foreign Office’s flagship international scholarship and fellowship programme. As the engagement lead for the Mayor of London’s youth-focused policy team, David brought together a variety of stakeholders to address the educational and skills development needs of young Londoners.
David is passionate about social justice and equitable opportunities, tech and innovation, the creative industries, international and intercultural relations, youth leadership, and sustainable futures.
Describe yourself/your background in 5 words max?
British-Ghanaian logophile and mangomaniac.
How did you get into PR/communications?
I studied Law and Linguistics at university, so I could have gone down either path, really. One of my first jobs out of university was in the legal department at the BBC. At the time, the BBC were still headquartered in the old Television Centre in White City/Shephard’s Bush, which was a fairly open campus where you could walk around even if you didn’t work on the news or production side. I think I ended up finding the media side of the organisation way more interesting than contributor contract releases (surprise!) so I ended up making sure my next job after that was in a newsroom, and I guess it started from there.
What do you love about your job?
Working in a company that’s at the intersection of creativity and technology is mentally stimulating. I get to think about how to articulate the exciting opportunities that generative AI can bring, whilst also being mindful of the ethical, legal, and societal questions it poses.
Ultimately, technology should enhance our lives, so finding ways to demonstrate how this is already happening (whilst also getting to use the technology to also help me be more productive and creative) is what excites me.
What are you most proud of?
Last year, I crafted the opportunity to write and recite an alternative history of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, which turned into a poignant and viral piece of content released during Black History Month.
As a lifelong Spurs fan, it was both a weight and an honour to attempt to do justice to the stories of the Black and mixed-Black men and women who, over the last 115 years, have represented the Club both on and off the pitch.
Club partisanism is something that inherently divides football fans, but the content ended up striking a real chord with Spurs fans and fans of rival clubs too. Working with my Spurs REACH team and Spurs’ comms, social, and community engagement teams on this project was a great experience.
What’s been the hardest lesson to learn?
As someone who is inherently interested in a lot of things, having to focus, and park some interests in order to prioritise what’s most important can be hard. Of course, I want to publish that novel, write that screenplay, launch that business, travel extensively in that region, learn that new language, and take up that instrument. But, it’s also important to learn the value of doing less better. So that’s where I am in life.
Who are your favourite people in PR and why?
A bit of a left-field option, because she probably wouldn’t consider herself a PR person as such, but I have to shout out Dentaa Amoateng MBE. I had the pleasure of working with her in the early days of GUBA, and her vision, work ethic, and her ability to create opportunities is admirable.
Ultimately, she’s made it her mission to do PR for an entire continent and thus change the public perception of Africa globally. When I was a teenager, The Economist ran a front-page feature story where it branded Africa “The hopeless continent” and that’s the prevailing sentiment of Africa that many of us grew up with outside of our homes.
Through her relentless work, she’s shown that, be it in fashion, music, entrepreneurialism, sport, art, and so much more, Africa is actually the happening continent.
What skill do you think every PR/comms person has to nail?
It’s understanding people. The people inside your organisation, and those audiences that you’re attempting to influence and impact. The more time we spend with a broad range of people, listening to them and understanding what drives them, the better we’ll be at our day jobs.
What is your favourite social network and why?
Traditionally, I wouldn’t have thought of WhatsApp as a social network, but a lot of its recent new features have shifted it towards that category in my opinion. Even though I use it less these days than in the past, it’s effective as it’s a way to manage personal and professional relationships, as well as participate in various communities too. Brands are also using it to push messages now too, and it is making customer service a lot easier. It still has that personal and private feel that other networks like LinkedIn and Instagram have slightly lost and it’s the only network that handles a range of media files effortlessly. Bonus, I don’t get served content from annoying accounts against my will, @elonmusk!
What’s your favourite podcast and why?
It’s confession o’clock! I’m not someone who actually listens to podcasts. On the rare occasion that I do, it would be a news bulletin in Spanish such as Hoy en El Pais. It’s part of an effort (that sometimes feels like it’s in vain!) to keep my Spanish language skills ripe, whilst swotting up on the biggest current affairs stories from other parts of the world that I might never have heard of otherwise.
Who is your favourite journalist and why?
Clive Myrie. I’ve been an avid consumer of broadcast news from when I was a child. But it was only in 2022, when I saw Clive in a hard hat and bulletproof vest reporting from a rooftop in Kyiv, that it dawned on me that this was the first time I’d ever seen a Black anchor reporting from an ongoing conflict in a European country.
In a way, it shouldn’t matter, but it many ways, it does. Remember, I grew up during the ‘Africa is a hopeless continent’ era, so since childhood, I’ve seen a continuous stream of White correspondents from the national broadcaster reporting from conflicts in Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, as well as Palestine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and elsewhere. Seeing Clive reporting from Ukraine felt like quite a subversive and seismic moment. But, of course, it’s simply because he was the right person for the job, just as it should be.
To anchor two British television institutions – the BBC News at Ten and Mastermind – gives a sense of the stature of the man and the work he’s had to put in to build such a strong reputation, but what really sets him apart is how he exudes real heart and empathy in his reporting. Some of his special reports from hospitals during the pandemic and from his time in Ukraine still stay with me today.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
“Work is love made visible”. It’s actually not advice given to me directly, but a quote from a thought-provoking chapter of one of my all-time favourite pieces of literature, Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, which has pride of place on my bedside table.
If you’re going to spend a minimum of 35, and sometimes 50+ hours a week doing something, then at least let it be something you love either for what it is, or for what it enables. Gibran then goes on to write that working begrudgingly effectively poisons the fruits of your own labour.
Whilst I acknowledge it’s a privilege to be in a position where I’ve been able to pursue work that I enjoy, I think we can infuse some of that spirit into whatever we do – whether it’s the street cleaner who whistles joyfully as they work; the Aldi’s worker who ensures the tins are stacked neatly and facing forward (knowing they’ll be messy again in an hour’s time!); the doctor who, despite the stresses of their 12-hour shift, takes the time to make you feel seen; the tube driver whose announcements are far too chirpy for 8am in the morning but still make you smile. The world is a better place for all those whose love is made visible through their work.
Biggest PR campaign fail and yay of 2024 so far?
Thumbs up: The Dad Shift campaign. A really important campaign to increase the UK’s woeful statutory paternity leave, which is crucial if we’re serious about creating a more egalitarian society where fathers are more involved in the upbringing of their children from the start. Essentially the campaign strapped babies to male statues across London. The campaign goes to show that you can use iconic cultural artefacts to effectively campaign for important issues without resorting to lobbing Heinz soup at them.
Facepalm: If I had to choose a campaign, it would be the iPad crush ad, where Apple felt the need to emphatically destroy all the creative and cultural things we as humans enjoy – musical instruments, arcade games, arts and craft tools, sculptures, computers, cameras, books – just to make the point that the new iPad is thinner (and can presumably give you access to all these now redundant cultural relics!) Totally missed the mark and wound up creatives the world over.
Also, special mention to Disney for extraordinarily tone-deaf insensitivity towards the family of a woman who died after dining at Disneyland. Disney got their lawyers to audaciously bar the deceased’s widower from bringing a lawsuit because of the small print in the Ts&Cs he agreed to when signing up to a free trial of Disney+ four years earlier. Utterly shameless and spineless.
Finally, on the D’ word… What can the sector do to encourage diversity?
This is a small industry that largely runs on who you know. If you just hire from amongst those you know or from your own circles, you’ll end up with the same. Maybe that’s the intent. But if the intent is to genuinely cultivate diversity, establish more robust and neutral hiring practices. And then follow them.
Connect with David Osei on LinkedIn.
David was awarded a place on The Xec. Leadership Scheme for UK-based Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Ethnic Minority PR and comms pros. He is part of the class of 2025.
