On Independence Day, Vedanta Aluminium launches ‘#AzadiKaAsliMatlab’ campaign

The campaign encourages people to introspect and share what freedom signifies to them

By Pramod Sahukar

New Delhi, Aug. 15: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, is launching a multi-channel campaign called ‘#AzadiKaAsliMatlab’ (The True Meaning of Freedom), on the occasion of India’s Independence Day 2023. The campaign pivots around a visually striking film encapsulating the nation’s progress on several fronts. It was launched on 14th August on YouTube, and will be subsequently rolled out across all leading social media platforms on 15th August.

The film also echoes the role of aluminium as the backbone for numerous critical applications in the modern world, accelerating India’s transformation into a hub of world-class manufacturing and innovation. It will be accompanied by a print campaign on 15th August, based on the theme ‘Aluminium from the earth takes India to the skies’.

The #AzadiKaAsliMatlab campaign envisages freedom as a broad concept that transcends existing implications of the term. Taking inspiration from the query ‘Azadi Ka Kya Matlab Hai’ (What Does Freedom Mean To You?), the film encourages its diverse audience to reflect more deeply on what freedom means to them personally.

Freedom today manifests itself in many forms, signifying various things to different people. For example, the film depicts how India is a vast country home to numerous families separated by long distances, due to their work or education needs. Aluminium is facilitating modern transportation, such as through aluminium-bodied trains and aircrafts, that help bring them closer. Similarly, the video also highlights how aluminium is addressing our national security needs through its extensive uses in electronics, satellites, rockets, defence equipment, fighter jets etc.

Expanding on this theme, the video further links freedom to deliverance from urban and rural poverty, from inadequate infrastructure, and even from the restrictive dependence on foreign imports, with aluminium, a metal of strategic importance, as the unifying thread.

The film will be played on social and digital platforms and can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/3YzMhmj.

The launch of the video was preceded by online teasers and will be followed by engaging creatives summing up the core theme of the campaign. Vedanta Aluminium is also supplementing the online campaign with several offline touchpoints, including multilingual front page ads in leading dailies, scribble boards for employees to pen their thoughts across Vedanta Aluminium’s operations, and on-ground activations through broader community celebrations.

Through its versatile properties, aluminium has established itself as a critical raw material crucial for building a self-reliant India, freeing it from both supply instabilities and geopolitical volatility.  Building on aluminium’s ubiquity as the second-most important metal in the world today, the campaign uniquely leverages the ‘metal of the future’ as a metaphor of what it means to be free in the 21st century.

Aluminium’s remarkable versatility, and India’s ability to produce it sustainably, is heralding a transformative era in the country’s manufacturing landscape. The metal is playing a pivotal role in the following key sectors that are vital to a self-reliant, resurgent India:

Hi-Tech Manufacturing: Domestic aluminium can power India’s rise as the hi-end manufacturing hub of the world, as it is a critical raw material for this sunrise sector.

Aerospace: Aluminium and its alloys are essential for building modern aircraft, owing to its high strength-to-weight ratio and anti-corrosive nature. This also makes it useful for building drones for both industrial and military applications.

Defence: Aluminium lends itself to several cutting-edge applications in weapons, armour and field communications within the global defence sector, epitomizing the nation’s self-reliance in an especially crucial domain.

Construction and Infrastructure: Aluminium’s malleability, ductility and durability makes it indispensable in sustainable, ‘green’ construction. This bolsters the nation’s infrastructure development, offering eco-friendly alternatives for a self-reliant future.

Automotive: Aluminium’s high strength to weight ratio and durability has helped it find increasing adoption in the automotive sector. It is also driving the transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) and vehicular lightweighting.

Power generation & distribution: Aluminium is playing a crucial role in the global transition to Net Zero, by propelling the advancement of renewable energy through technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines. It is also essential in power distribution and storage.

Packaging: Aluminium’s infinite recyclability has encouraged packaging industries to opt for the metal for uses such as aluminium foil and cans, signifying freedom from plastic pollution while also preserving the planet.