SCMP hires former GroupM leader as global head of advertising

The South China Morning Post has brought in David Wightman, formerly of Ebiquity and GroupM to take on a newly created role of global head of advertising.

Tasked with expanding SCMP's global ad business, Wightman will lead a team across Hong Kong, mainland China, Asia, Europe and the US. His remit will span global media sales, marketing and creative solutions, branded content, events, custom publishing, advertising technology, and sales operations. 

Wightman has most recently been based in London as the group director of business operations for media management and analysis firm Ebiquity. Prior to this, he was the managing director of GroupM's [M]Platform in Asia Pacific where he launched and scaled the regional programmatic, data and technology division for the WPP-owned media agency network.

“We are delighted to add a leader of David’s global expertise and reputation, and look forward to broadening our business reach and international relevance with his strategic, operational and commercial experience,” said Gary Liu, CEO of SCMP. “His C-suite exposure across the EMEA and APAC markets will greatly benefit SCMP’s growing portfolio of international clients.”

In more than two decades of industry experience, Wightman has also previously built and led local and international sales and operations teams within digital and traditional media companies.  This includes serving as chief operating officer of GiveMeSport, where he revamped the editorial and content marketing approach, increasing readership, revenues and investment. Earlier in his career, Wightman held senior commercial leadership roles at media organisations, including Geeknet, CBS Interactive, Yahoo!, and Mirror Group Newspapers.

“I am energised and enthused to be joining SCMP” said Wightman. “The award-winning history of the brand, coupled with an innovative approach to how we harness data and technology, offers an unprecedented opportunity," he said.