Exclusive | Entrepreneurship is a state of mind: Pulp Strategy's Ambika Sharma

Ambika Sharma , Managing Director & CEO , Pulp Strategy Communications is amongst the senior most professional entrepreneurs who specializes in integrated planning and activation for brands. She is  the face  of  the  modern  brand  activation  industry. A thorough  marketing  professional, she has an enriching  experience  of  more  than  16  years  in  the  industry. Her forte ranges from medium identification, ROI maximization, facilitation, planning, to implementation of consumer experience based business solutions for brand marketing dilemmas with an in-depth understanding on traditional and new media in the context of the Indian consumer subsets. An opinion leader for the activation Industry in India, she has been on the PMAA (the Promotional Marketing Awards of Asia) Jury panel since the year 2008. Apart  from this, she  also  has  won  a number of  other  accolades  like Young Achiever Of the Year at the CMO Asia Awards 2011 & Marketing Professional Of the Year at the CMO Asia Awards 2011 for Excellence in Branding and Marketing.

 

Reminiscing  a  few milestones  of  her  journey  as  an entrepreneur, Ambika  Sharma  says one of the crucial milestones has  been  the belief that  clients and partners  have  shown a keen interest in her work, when they had nothing  but personal ‘equity’ to put at stake. Later on, it was the team that came together and stood like a rock. Subsequently, the success the team achieved and the due acknowledgment from consumers and clients have  been strong  pillars  of  support. Adding to that the recent success at the WOW Awards with 7 Nominations and 3 Awards in respect of 3 unique campaigns was  like  an  energy booster.

 

“Entrepreneurship is a state of mind; this is not just a cliché rather the core of being one! And the best part is that the best is always yet to come. One can set the pace and go for the next higher order of things on a daily basis – it’s essentially non-restrictive”, says the opinion leader for the activation industry  in  India.

 

On  being  asked  about  the  number  of  titles  that  were  bagged  by  her  team at  the  WOW Awards, she  happily  exclaims  that  the  feeling  is  exhilarating  but  this  is  just  a start  to  achieving   the  bigger  ideal  i.e. improvement in  services.

 

As  a person  who  has witnessed  the  growth  of  the  brand  activation  industry, she  believes  that  due  credit  must  be  given  to   brand activation, which  is  a  marketing tool with amazing possibilities and prowess when used with a planned tactical approach.

 

Promotional marketing mediums like any other media, also need  to have consumer behavioral change and product adaptability as part of the delivery; she  exclaims  when  quipped  about  the  changes  that  are  needed in  the brand  activation  industry.

 

Talking about the current measurement metric which is used in the industry, she  explains  that  currently, there are two trends broadly being followed; The progressive approach that works from a focused brand need and then develops the campaign as well as the measurability strategy from this need; and the approach that begins with what the campaign will be and then begins to map the measurement to the need. Commenting  on   the  viability  of  this  metric, she  adds  that a holistic approach, which focuses  on the drawing board rather than in the invoicing sheet  needs  to be  adopted.

 

Ambika  Sharma ,the  winner  of  the "Star Youth Achiever Award" of 2010, states  that  in  the  near  future her  team will look forward  to strengthening their  youth outreach, channels of I-cafes and campuses, with constant  focus on Youth marketing driven by digital engagement and experiential formats.  

 

Sharma was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Jagran Solutions (A unit Of JPL). Her career path has also seen her with organizations such as Encompass (a WPP company) and Kidstuff (a Mudra Group Co.)

 

She holds an honour degree in English Literature and is a post graduate degree in Mass Communications. A recognized and reputed name in the industry Sharma is a published author of articles in leading business and trade magazines.

 

She is also an avid biker and a member of all male bikers club called Group Of Delhi Super Bikers. She goes on biking trips in and around Delhi every weekend. She is adventurous and has a passion for traveling to not so mundane places which has taken her to places like, Cancun, Mexico and Honolulu.