Lithium Argentina and IDX: A Bold Approach to Sustainability Storytelling
It takes guts, pluck, and boldness to travel to a remote area of Argentina in order to shoot a professional-grade video amid high winds and arid conditions. But that’s exactly what IDX’s Guido Benedicto did when he created a stunning video that tells the story of how our client Lithium Argentina extracts lithium responsibly from the pristine Salar de Olaroz and Salar de Cauchari salt flats, which are nestled in the rugged terrain of Argentina’s Jujuy province.
The Importance of Lithium to Sustainability
Lithium is an alkali metal crucial for making a transition to a clean energy future. The demand for lithium is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, as electric vehicles and other renewable energy technologies become more popular. Our client wanted to show the world how its team carefully extracts and processes lithium from the desolate salt flats in the least disruptive way possible. But Lithium Argentina wanted to paint pictures, not describe the details.
Doing all this was not for the faint of heart. A videographer would need to journey to remote northwest Argentina mountain range 4,000 meters above sea level to capture the landscape properly, including the briny salt flats and arid landscape. But IDX’s Guido Benedicto was up for the challenge.
Our client was aware of our work we had done in Chile for SQM (another Lithium producer). Our mission: create a set of films and archive footage that will populate the new to be launched Lithium Argentina website and also feed future videos.
An Adventure in Argentina
We had two weeks to produce a film in northern Argentina. Guido flew 11,000 miles from London to Buenos Aires -- and then trekked into a remote northwest Argentina mountain range to capture footage with a cinematographer and five crew members from Argentina, in a shoot that evoked David Lean and Lawrence of Arabia. Guido produced and directed onsite and also guided the project to delivery.
The result: a compelling document of the biggest Argentinian industrial endeavor to date.
The video captures the azure skies, the brown crust of the earth, lonely roads stretching like ribbons, and crystalline surfaces of these salt flats. The team also humanizes the process of lithium extraction through compelling interviews with the humble and dedicated people who are entrusted with this awesome responsibility. One worker interviewed says, “Every day when I come to work, I feel like I’m spending time and sharing time with a unique and professional team fully focused on this task which will put Argentina on the map, and besides that, we are helping our planet, and that fills me with pride for future generations knowing that we are having a positive impact.”
A Bold Showcase
Guido also created a compelling behind-the-scenes video that gives you a sense of how the IDX team told Lithium Argentina’s story. Watch it here:
A creative team needs confidence to venture into another world. To arrive as an outsider and gain the trust required to obtain open and insightful insights from the people working there. To go behind the scenes and educate without boring your audience. That’s exactly what Guido and the team pulled off. The final product is a showcase of creativity and grit -- bold in every way. The outstanding results will foster our relationship with this industrial conglomerate.
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