Sean Dowie joins Kellogg's Manchester-based marketing team this month from South Africa, where he grew up and has been working since 2002.
Replacing Elisa Webb, who moved to become senior innovation manager for kids' snacks in December, Dowie was chosen for the role on the basis of "our understanding and knowledge of his abilities" when last at Kellogg, a company spokesman said.
"This is a big position in the marketing department," he added.
Dowie first worked for Kellogg in 1995 in South Africa, before transferring to the UK where he became senior brand manager for Nutra-Grain.
On returning to South Africa, he took up the group brand manager position at Kellogg.
"Since then Sean has held a variety of roles in business and education in South Africa and we are delighted to have him take up the promotions role in the UK," said David Walker, marketing operations and media controller for Kellogg UK, to whom Dowie will report.
Dowie will run Kellogg's UK promotions and also drive pan-European activities.
Each country has its own promotional plan: Dowie's role will be to align the region with the company's over-arching strategy.
His biggest challenge will be managing such a breadth of brands and agencies, Walker said. The company will continue its focus on fewer, bigger promotions and implementation of its ROI strategy, he added.
Dowie's predecessor, Webb, has been credited for raising standards during her time in charge of the company's significant promotional budget.
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