At Rs 1.75 crore (Rs 175 million) for a brand endorsement contract, the Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly is assuredly among the most expensive celebrity ambassadors. However, ITC Hotels Ltd seems to have bowled a googly of sorts and caught Ganguly for barely Rs 35 lakh (Rs 3.5 million).

Claims Suhel Seth, the chief executive officer of ITC's advertising agency Equus Red Cell, "It is not an endorsement contract. The ITC WelcomGroup  is branding the captain's comment on Star News. However, the hospitality chain gets tremendous mileage from the association."

For the duration of the ICC World Cup, Star News has entered into an exclusive tie-up with Ganguly for his comments on the day's matches. However, the financial deal has been inked directly between ITC and Ganguly. As a result, the five-minute byte from Ganguly is being presented by the ITC WelcomGroup with the company's logo and banner prominently on display. According to Seth, the media innovation has helped the hospitality chain corner 70 minutes of air time per day on Star News as the cricket comments are repeated 14 times in a day.

According to Equus Red Cell's co-CEO, Swapan Seth, it is a win-win for all the parties involved in the deal. He claims that with the Indian team captain analysing the day's play at prime time, ITC gets into cricket without huge cashburn. "Other brands spend crores to get visibility during the World Cup. That apart, you outswerve the competitive spends and get the brand right up there where it belongs," he adds.

Seth clarifies that it is not a "media buying" deal. "It is more about outbuying an opportunity. Increasingly, clients will seek ambush media opportunities," he feels.

Equus officials say that it is the right time for ITC to promote itself as it is the peak season for the hospitality industry. "Also, for a hotel chain that does not advertise on television, the media vehicle is the perfect fit as Star News is watched by ITC's target audience: the socio-economic category A consumers in large towns," says Suhel Seth.

Though ITC Hotels Ltd's chief operating officer Nakul Anand admits that the association with Sourav Ganguly has benefited the group in terms of brand recall, "the sponsorship was aimed at showing our support to the Indian cricket team. We weren't really thinking of profit and loss," he says.

Marketing experts feel that though there is some merit in the deal as the ITC WelcomGroup brand gets an association with the skipper for small money, however, there is no brand information in a sponsorship of this nature. "In that sense the mileage that the brand enjoys is also limited," says a Mumbai-based television marketing expert. He adds that the channel, however, benefits in terms of goodwill of the viewer.