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She is joining Associated British Foods (ABF) as managing director for Ryvita and replaces Garth Weston, who is taking a year's sabbatical.

Before being poached by Premier Foods last February, Ferguson was marketing director for McVitie's at United Biscuits.

At ABF she will oversee the development of the Ryvita brand at a time when the UK healthy snack market is growing. She will lead a renewed focus on its core product following last year's successful launch of the Ryvita Minis brand extension.

Ryvita Minis, launched to exploit healthy eating trends, was backed by a £4m campaign featuring This Morning presenter Fern Britton.

Later this month, ABF is rolling out a TV campaign to highlight the fact that Ryvita is made from Rye, something it has not focused on before.

The execution, created by Mortimer Whittaker O'Sullivan, will run for two months using the strapline 'Keep the Rye-balance'.

ABF, whose other brands include Kingsmill and Twinings, centralised its media planning and buying into ZenithOptimedia last year (Marketing, 22 December 2004). It plans to increase its media budget by 50% to £20m next year to back product launches.

Ferguson's appointment is the latest in a line of senior hirings by ABF and follows the appointment of former Diageo UK marketer Chris Rigby as marketing director for the Twinings Drinks Division in February.