Brand Sourav on strong wicket

Sourav Ganguly may not be in the Indian cricket team, but he is a strong contender as far as brand endorsements are concerned. Recently, Pepsi signed Ganguly as its brand ambassador to add to its already existing star list of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, V V S Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.

Ganguly refused to spell out his future plans in detail, but said the recently-released Pepsi advertisement featuring him would be followed by some more.

Even otherwise, his hands are full. For instance, the brands that Ganguly signed up earlier are in no hurry to let him go. Ganguly is the brand ambassador for S Kumars, Hero Honda, Tata Indicom, Sahara and Pogo.

"Although Sourav Ganguly is no longer the Indian cricket captain, he has a huge fan following and that's exactly the reason why several companies would want him to endorse their products," a spokesperson for Tata Teleservices said. "We would want to retain the brand ambassadors as long as they click with consumers," the spokesperson added.

Since 2000, Ganguly has been the brand ambassador for S Kumars and promotes the company's suiting brand, Reid & Taylor. "It doesn't matter if Ganguly is not playing as much cricket as he used to a few months ago. Indians love him and, at the end of the day, that's what any consumer brand would want from the brand ambassador," said A Misra, senior vice-president, marketing, Reid & Taylor.

Even in Kolkata, as preparations are on in full swing for Durga Puja, locals do not seem to have enough of him. For example, a local potato chips company, branded Pogo, has featured him as brand ambassador. Apart from that, Ganguly also has a role to play in certain housing projects. He is involved in a housing complex co-promoted by the Bengal Peerless Housing Company and the state government of West Bengal. The project is named Sourav Abasan.

This apart, Ganguly has some commitments in the northern Bengal town of Siliguri, where he is involved in sports promotions and another housing project. Then, of course, there is cricket. When he's not training for the Challenger Trophy scheduled in October this year, he's also taking interest in the academy set up in his name to groom young talent for cricket. The academy is sponsored by the Videocon group and the government of West Bengal.