Profile: Retail front man - Andy Duff, Customer marketing and innovation controller, Kellogg

When you meet him, you see why.

Duff is vibrant and enthusiastic, both qualities he needs as Kellogg's customer marketing and innovation controller. It is a big job and Duff sums it up with characteristic clarity: "We've got a strong promotional calendar, but that's only 20 per cent of it; 80 per cent boils down to how you execute that at point of purchase, at retail. It lies with me and my team to give our sales force the appropriate tools to get that support within retail: we're the key link between sales and marketing."

Kellogg runs around 25 promotions annually across all parts of its business. Activity such as this month's free insert of a pocket edition of Audrey Eyton's F2 Feel Great Guide to Inner Health, running in 3.8 million packs of All-Bran, is meticulously planned in an annual calendar. In spite of the fact that Kellogg has around 97 per cent household penetration, Duff has to sell in all activity, and ensure significant support, to multiples including Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Asda, all of which have promotional calendars of their own.

With 2006 set to be a bumper year for sporting-led activity, as well as the usual calls to action, it's not surprising that such account-specific marketing is a keener focus for Kellogg this year. "We're part of a US company, and the States has worked well with retailers to execute programmes that are either tailor-made or that have taken a national programme and given it account-specific executions. It has delivered great results in the cereal business, and we're looking to adopt best practice and drive it hard here," he explains.

"We're becoming more sophisticated in our techniques." This includes using store specific data to drive sales, and trade mailers to target key store personnel.

This emphasis on planning clearly finds echoes in Duff's psyche: "I've always been a goal-setter and planner in terms of how I manage my life both personally and professionally. The move from London back to the North West was something my wife and I planned to do when we started a family.

We've delivered that, and have other goals - including retiring at 50," he laughs.

Mentions of his family pepper Duff's conversation. The 34-year-old has a wife and a four- year-old son, and he is obviously smitten with both. Much of his career, including his move to Kellogg, have been influenced by a family agenda. "Kellogg's head hunter called at just the right time, a month or so before my son was due. I started at Kellogg two weeks after he was born."

He acknowledges: "It is extremely important to me to have a strong family unit, it's a base for my career ambitions." You could over-analyse this, or the fact that his interest in people and their achievements is reflected in his penchant for autobiographies and biographies.

But, ultimately, the agencies which lauded Duff got it right: he's a fun bloke who's sure of himself, knows what he wants and, importantly, can articulate it.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Describe yourself in three words ... Professional, driven, and enthusiastic

If I won the lottery ... I'd want to win loads. I'd give up work tomorrow, invest my winnings and live off the proceeds while I worked out what to do with the rest of my life

Brand I most admire ... Guinness. It's a brilliant, brilliant brand, on all sorts of levels

Most embarrassing moment

At a Vodafone Christmas party, a colleague and I were snapped mooning with a V lipsticked across our bottoms. The picture ended up in the trade press, to be followed by a witch hunt, red faces, and many, many apologies

CURRICULUM VITAE 2004-date: Customer marketing and innovation controller, Kellogg 2002-2004: Consumer promotions and licensing controller, Kellogg 1998-2002: Promotions manager, Gordon's and Malibu, moving to promotions team manager, Diageo 1996-1998: Senior creative services manager, Walt Disney (BVHE) 1994-96: Marketing communications manager, Vodafone