Every year around this time, the same question makes its way around advertising circles: is there anything left to say about freedom that hasn’t already been said? Judging by this year’s crop of Independence Day campaigns, the answer is yes, but only if brands are willing to narrow their focus rather than widen it.
The smartest work this August 15 did not try to capture the entire idea of India in one film. Instead of relying solely on the familiar flag, patriotic score and sweeping montage, these campaigns picked a single, specific idea and built around it. For some, it was the discovery of India’s stories through travel. For others, it was the values adults pass on to children, the perseverance needed to stay the course, the sounds that make up a country, or the everyday habit of settling for less.
Here are five campaigns that took that approach, each from a different category and each arriving at Independence Day from a different direction.
MakeMyTrip x Ministry of Tourism
For MakeMyTrip and the Ministry of Tourism, Independence Day became an invitation to look at India differently. The partnership with the Ministry put guided tours at the centre of its latest Incredible India initiative, with more than 350 experiences across 60+ cities made available to book through MakeMyTrip from August 15.
The campaign was built around the idea that travelling through India is not only about seeing a destination, but understanding the stories, people and traditions behind it. Local guides and experts became an important part of that discovery, taking travellers beyond the standard tourist itinerary and into experiences rooted in the culture of a place. From exploring heritage and neighbourhoods to meeting artisans and discovering lesser-known stories, the idea was to make the journey as much about the people and places behind a destination as the destination itself.
What made the campaign stand out was the way it connected Independence Day to the idea of discovering the country from the ground up. Rather than presenting India as a collection of iconic monuments, it put local experiences and the people who carried those stories at the centre.
Liberty General Insurance
Liberty General Insurance took a more personal route to Independence Day, focusing on the values adults passed on to the next generation. Created in partnership with White Rivers Media, the film was set around a road confrontation that began to escalate, until a child’s intervention changed the course of the situation. Told largely through expressions, music and imagery, the film also used a visual reference to Mahatma Gandhi to underline the contrast between aggression and restraint.
At its heart was a simple thought: children learned not just from what adults told them, but from what they saw them do. A moment of anger or restraint could become an example that stayed with them. By focusing on this everyday responsibility, the campaign gave Independence Day a more contemporary meaning, shifting the conversation from the freedom struggle to the values people chose to pass on.
Edelweiss Mutual Fund
Edelweiss Mutual Fund built its Independence Day campaign around one of India’s most recognisable songs, Hum Honge Kamyaab. The familiar tune became a way to talk about encouragement, perseverance and the confidence to keep moving forward.
The connection to investing was clear. Long-term investing requires patience and the willingness to stay the course, even when progress is not immediately visible. By using a song associated with hope and perseverance, the campaign gave the brand a natural way into the Independence Day conversation without forcing a conventional patriotic message onto a financial product.
The simplicity worked in its favour. Instead of making Independence Day the subject of the film, Edelweiss used the occasion to reinforce an idea that was central to investing itself: meaningful progress takes time.
The World at Jubilee Hills
The World at Jubilee Hills took a musical route to Independence Day, bringing together more than 50 sounds from across India to recreate Jana Gana Mana. Conceptualised by Chennai-based Be Positive 24 Innovation Design, the campaign used sounds ranging from trains and school bells to birds, temple bells, streets and musical instruments.
More than 100 sounds were recorded and tested before the final selection, with the film going through over 35 iterations across nearly 100 days. The idea used these different sounds coming together as a simple metaphor for India’s unity in diversity, making sound the centrepiece rather than the usual visual spectacle of an Independence Day film.
Orient Electric
Orient Electric’s Chalta Hai, Ab Nahi Chalega turned one of India’s most familiar phrases into a challenge to everyday compromise. Released around Independence Day, the film questioned the tendency to accept small flaws and settle for less.
The story followed a young boy who saw his parents and grandfather repeatedly dismiss compromises with chalta hai, before eventually adopting the phrase himself. This made the family realise how easily such attitudes were passed on to the next generation.
For Orient Electric, the campaign extended its focus on quality and innovation into a broader message, urging consumers to raise their standards. Chalta Hai, Ab Nahi Chalega reframed the idea of freedom as a refusal to settle for less.
