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ITV is sticking with its modest marketing budget despite its high-profile hiring of Clare Salmon as its head of marketing. The UK's biggest commercial network instead believes the cross-promotion of its brands should be the focus of its marketing activity.

Salmon fills a role made vacant in the summer by Jim Hytner, who left to become Barclays' marketing director, and overseen in the interim by Graham Duff, the managing director of ITV Sales.

She takes control of a £3.8 million budget, which is spent mostly on press and outdoor work promoting ITV's event TV such as The X Factor.

This compares with ad budgets of £12 million for the BBC, £5 million for Channel 4 and £4.5 million for five (Nielsen Media Research).

However, ITV estimates that the media value of its on-air promotions is £300 million and that the contra deals it carries out with other commercial broadcasters account for a further £6 million.

Salmon will lead a 60-strong team, of whom 50 work in the network promotions unit, running ITV's on-screen promotions across the ITV family of channels.

She will also promote ITV's latest digital channel, ITV3, which had a soft launch at the beginning of November.

ITV's marketing director role has been somewhat diminished since the creation of a single company and the appointment of Justin Sampson as the director of customer relationship marketing at ITV Sales. Sampson is responsible for the commercial broadcaster's trade marketing.

Salmon said: "It's a particularly exciting time to join, in a period of unprecedented competitive change. I will relish the opportunity to shape the ITV brand for the digital future so that it can continue to capture and lead the popular imagination."

During her three years at the AA, Salmon devised the "Just AAsk" campaign.

She first held the position of sales and marketing director, before being promoted to the role of managing director of its financial services division a year ago.

Salmon left the AA last month as part of a cull of senior staff following Centrica's sale of the AA to CVC Capital Partners and Permira.

Salmon's appointment comes as five's board kicks off the interview process to find a marketing director to replace David Pullan. Pullan left the broadcaster earlier this year.