Sunny Leone, to her throng of fans, conjures up images that are mostly too vicarious to describe in these pages of resonant family reading. But once you hear her out, you would wonder whether it's a former porn star '" adult entertainer if you will '" or a marketing guru doing the talking.

"I think I offer a unique brand of worldwide traffic and fans that is different from what is offered by other celebrities in India," says the Indo-Canadian actress who was born Karenjit Kaur Vohra to Sikh parents in Ontario, Canada.

There's more: she also lets on that she's "specialized in social media marketing" and companies that tie up with the Sunny Leone brand "see the potential and value" in it.

Meet Sunny Leone, porn star turned digital entrepreneur cum brand endorser. And if you aren't still convinced here's some more: "This year we launched our own Sunny Leone app and platform that integrates all social networks with our own marketing team [her business interests are run under her banner company Leone LLC]. We now reach the end consumer in a way that companies hope to in an everchanging world market," she told ET Magazine in an email interview.

Perhaps it's time to take the Bollywood actor who was most searched online in 2013, the Penthouse Pet of the year a decade before that, and one of Maxim's 12 top porn stars of 2010 a bit more seriously, and with more respect.

A clutch of marketers is doing exactly that by signing her up to endorse their brands. Those labels of course are not of soaps, detergents or toothpaste but tend to be on the edgier side '" think energy drinks, liquor, and inevitably condoms and adult entertainment websites."Products such as energy drinks, alcohol and '" more obviously '" adult entertainment websites have sexual attraction built in either as subtext or as an overt promise. In that context, Sunny Leone becomes the perfect choice as brand ambassador. She's a porn actress who has now become a Bollywood star '" hence known and fantasized about by millions. Who better to be the face of an A-rated brand," explains Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Mumbai.

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