PepsiCo UK has promoted David Johnston to general manager of its Tropicana and Quaker businesses following Mary Barnard's departure to the US.

Johnston will take the reins of the UK's leading juice and hot cereal brands on 1 April as PepsiCo prepares for a string of launches in the next few months.

Based in London, Johnston will be responsible for the development and delivery of PepsiCo's marketing strategy across Europe, reporting to UK president Salman Amin.

Johnson promised further NPD this year. "There have been some exciting new products launched already this year, and more are planned in the months ahead," he said.

One of his roles will be to keep up the sales momentum at Tropicana, which has doubled its turnover in the past two years. Last year sales grew 12% to £238m [Nielsen 52w/e 6 October 2007] and a new premium smoothies range was recently added to compete with Innocent, shortly after PespiCo slashed the price of PJ Smoothies.

Quaker, meanwhile, relaunched its entire range last year as the hot cereal category experienced the first sales decline in recent years.

Johnston moved to PepsiCo in 1996 and has worked in many international roles, including global marketing director for colas. He was also head of marketing beverages for PepsiCo in Latin America before becoming vice president of beverages marketing for PepsiCo in Europe in 2005.

Barnard is moving to New York as vice president of new beverage platforms. She joined PepsiCo in 1997 in a sales role, before becoming general manager of the Quaker and Tropicana businesses in 2005. In her new role she will be responsible for developing the global strategy for Tropicana and hydration brands such as Gatorade.

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