David Prescott Email & Phone Number

Hull, England, United Kingdom

Larkin PR was founded in Hull by David Prescott, a consultant with more than 30 years of experience in the media and public relations.He has devised campaigns for the Department for Education, launched start-ups in the environmental and life sciences sectors and worked on the BBC Network Newsdesk as a News Editor and as a Political Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition.Larkin PR will help you create bespoke strategies tailored to your needs; from public relations to social media and event management

House Of Commons, Westminster, London

Between 2016 and 2020 I worked for the Leader of the Opposition as a Political Adviser, Speechwriter and Press and Events Manager.This involved writing speeches for the Leader and briefing him for PMQs, visits and media appearances. I also liaised between the Leader’s Office and the Shadow Cabinet, advising and supporting the frontbench and their political advisers on media and wider communications.During the snap 2017 General Election campaign, I was part of the campaign team at Labour HQ, promoting and assisting the Shadow Cabinet in their broadcast appearances as well as assisting Jeremy Corbyn on his Leader’s Tour. Since the 2017 election, I worked as Press and Events Manager in the Leader's Office, media planning and delivering speeches, visits and events for the Leader of the Opposition. Responsibilities include:• Working with Labour’s digital team to initiate, create and distribute social media content for the Labour’s leader’s social media channels, including drafting and directing video content• Briefing the Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Cabinet members ahead of media appearances and carrying out media training sessions with senior Labour politicians• Working closely with the Labour events team to plan and deliver events, visits and press conferences for the Leader of the Opposition and the Shadow Cabinet.

Director at Commucan, a bespoke PR and social media consultancy. Extensive experience of providing a full range of marketing services including strategic public relations, content creation, social media, branding, advertising, partnership marketing, reputation management, issues and crisis handling, media training, stakeholder engagement and media relations. Commucan provided a mix of high-level strategic consultancy along with effective, targeted delivery. Clients included major Championship football club, Comte cheese, DNAFit and the world’s first recyclable coffee cup.Significant achievements included:• Creating the brand and devising the digital, social and mainstream media strategy for the world's first recyclable coffee cup. Green Your Cup (later renamed Frugalcup) received 1 billion opportunities to see, a social media reach of 3 million and firm interest from leading coffee chains. It also started a campaign that raised the issue of the inability of normal cups to be completely recycled. I worked closely with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his producers with their BBC1 documentary ‘Hugh’s War on Waste’ documentary on paper cups.• Global coverage for a new genetics test DNAFit - from site design to SEO, banner ads, social media promotion and mainstream media relations. The company subsequently won a Queen’s Award for Export and is now seen as a leader in its field. • Working pro-bono with Comic Relief to promote TwitRelief for Red Nose Day 2011 – raising money by promoting the auctioning of ‘superfollows’ and money can’t prizes from celebrities. Contributed to record-breaking fundraising of £73m.• Media training and reputation management for a chief European finance minister

Launched Game Changer - a one-stop campaign consultancy for public relations, media training, public affairs and digital engagement.We specialised in devising and implementing targeted and integrated campaigns that raise awareness and initiate change through the power of social media. We were the first UK PR consultancy set up by bloggers, putting Web 2.0 at the very heart of all our campaigns and pioneering online political campaigns.Significant campaign achievements included: • Devising and implementing ‘Give Up the Bonus,’ an online campaign to stop RBS handing out £1bn of public money in bonuses and reduce its former Chief Executive Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension. Ran high profile online petition which led to RBS reducing payout to £175m and Sir Fred handing back £4.7m.• Media trained members of the British Wind Energy Association (now Renewable UK) and devised social media campaign to encourage people to support wind farms.• Worked for the Council of Europe at the UN Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen. Devised and implemented its New Earth Deal campaign for a fairer deal for developing countries. This included a website, social media channels, a UK school tour and a climate change conference in Strasbourg.

Led on media strategy at the UK’s No 1 Public Sector PR Agency. Clients included the National Lottery, the School Foods Trust, ConstructionSkills, and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. Helped launch the Diploma scheme and worked on London Challenge, a government strategy to improve the capital’s state schools and make the city a world leader in education.I also devised and implemented the Department for Education’s campaign to promote these successes to parents under the proposition ‘London’s Schools Celebrating Achievement,’ leading on public relations and partnership marketing.Significant campaign achievements included: • Securing pro-bono poster campaign worth £250,000 to display posters designed by pupils to promote talented state school students to run on the underground, on buses and billboards.• Devised and delivered the London Student Awards – a scheme to praise the capital’s talented pupils across art and design, performing arts, creative writing, sport, science and ICT.• Set-up media training programme for London’s state school teachers covering crisis management, media relations and developing a long-term media strategy. This included drafting and distributing a marketing toolkit for schools to better promote their achievements to the parents and the community.• Devised and implemented the Department for Education’s Time To Talk PR consultation strategy. Organised a ‘Big Brother-style’ confession room video booth that toured schools to gather evidence from pupils about what they wanted to improve their lives. This then fed into the Department’s Children’s Plan.• Created mental health campaigns against pro-anorexia websites and social networks groups, which led to Facebook taking action to stop the groups. • Planned and promoted a Trans Atlantic tour by a replica of the Amistad slave ship crewed by at-risk teenagers to make the Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

Joined Grayling, a top five PR corporate PR consultancy, with clients including the Home Office, the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), Masterfoods and Allied Irish Bank.Significant campaign achievements included:• Leading campaign on promoting the Year of the Volunteer for the Home Office.• Securing volunteering message on 26 million lottery tickets after lobbying Camelot.• Media-training Masterfoods execs ahead of major restructuring at Slough.• Co-ordinating stakeholder engagement and media strategy for CoRWM

Worked as Assistant Editor and Home News Editor at BBC News in Hull and London Television Centre.Head-hunted by BBC to launch a new television service in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Part of Project Hull - a £25m plan to establish a new TV region and pioneer broadband interactive television - this involved working in Leeds and Hull.Significant achievements include:• Launching the BBC’s first new region and magazine programme for more than ten years.• Pioneering use of Video Journalists (VJs) for on-the-day news programmes.• Covering Hull’s historical and cultural heritage.• Produced the first live outside broadcast from the KC Stadium. • Achieving one of the best audience shares on the BBC – even beating EastEnders.• Working closely to sharing content and ideas with Kingston Interactive Television. Then seconded by BBC Network to be a senior news editor, co-ordinating coverage across the BBC for TV bulletins, radio and News 24. Based at Television Centre.Significant achievements include:• Orchestrating coverage of the resignation of Greg Dyke following the Hutton Report.• Working on the re-launch of News 24. • Co-ordinating the initial response to the shooting of correspondent Frank GardnerResponsibilities included:• Planning the operational resources for the following day’s news coverage.• Running the TV, News 24 and Radio newsdesks.• Working with editors of Radio 4’s Today programme, 1300 and 1800 bulletins, the One, Six and Ten televisions bulletins and Five Live.• Assigning senior journalists and crews on breaking news stories.• Co-ordinating coverage with all bureaus and BBC Nations and Regions.

Served as a senior producer and then reporter for Britain’s most watched breakfast news programme.Significant achievements included:• Working on the biggest stories of that decade, including Diana's death, 9/11 and the Middle East uprising.• Being part of the senior editorial team that won several RTS and TRIC awards for our news coverage.• Stand-in Scottish and Northern Ireland correspondent.

Journalism, Newspaper Journalism

Education record