"In 2022, Dr. Ajmal Zemmar and his team made a discovery that could forever change the way we look at life." This is how Ruavieja's new Christmas ad begins, already a classic at this time of year, in which this time science mixes with emotion, with a lot of emotion.

Professor Ajmal Zemmar's team analyzes the results and begins to certify an intuition that popular culture had instinctively assumed for years: life could pass in front of our eyes as in a movie at the moment of leaving this world. And now, scientific evidence, the result of a chance moment, confirmed it. This conclusion was reported in the study published in 2022 in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

"What we discovered was amazing," the neurosurgeon says in the spot. "30 seconds before and 30 seconds after the heart stops beating, the brain registers a peak of activity similar to that which occurs when we vividly recall memorable events in our lives," he adds, adding that "the final conclusion was that when the end comes, life could indeed pass before our eyes."

With this starting point, Ruavieja has sought to convey a powerful message in its new Christmas campaign: they are the moments we spend with our loved ones, those that build our history and those that we will remember in the last seconds of our lives.

Once again, emotion, tears, reflection are the protagonists of a Christmas ad, in which we have already become accustomed to not being able to contain our emotion and even to crying.

To make this idea a reality, eight people participated in a unique experiment: the creation of The Movie of a Lifetime. Family and friends collaborated by providing more than 24 hours of material in a variety of formats, from Super8, VHS tapes, video cassettes to analogue, digital and audio photos.

These people were surprised with a unique experience: watching a large-scale projection of a video of what the movie of their lives would look like today. A compilation of the most significant moments of their existence, with a common factor for all, are those starring their loved ones.

Thus, Ruavieja captures the emotional moment of the viewing and the reflections of the eight participants, who remember the importance of spending time with our loved ones. "Something that seems simple and to which we give less and less priority, because we are absorbed by the day to day," explains Elma García, senior brand manager of Ruavieja, "However, as we wanted to reflect in The Movie of Your Life, they will be the ones we will remember at the crucial moment."

The campaign takes up the spirit of the mythical 2018 campaign We Need to See Each Other More and closes with the same slogan, reminding us of the importance of prioritizing what is truly essential in life. Ruavieja assures that "with this campaign, we go beyond connecting with the consumer: the brand seeks to promote a real change in their lives". "The claim, We have to see each other more, becomes a real invitation to value and prioritize time with our loved ones. It is a call to consider the balance of our lives, something that we at Ruavieja see as essential," says Javier de la Vara, Creative Specialist at Pernod Ricard Spain.

For his part, Juan García-Escudero, Chief Creative Officer of TBWA/Spain, the agency that has developed the spot, explains that what they wanted was "to create a campaign capable of making us reflect on something as fundamental as the way we live and make us think about that final moment in which we will make the most important balance of our lives is of enormous courage on the part of the brand and that is why we are giving them the opportunity to do so. very grateful."

The reaction of the eight people who have participated has a common element: all of them recognize that the most important thing in their lives, what will remain in the end are those memories with theirs, but they admit that because of the intensity of life we lead, we forget it and put it aside. "They are my life, without them I wouldn't exist," says Rocío after watching the film of her life.

"It's never too late to change the movie of your life," is the final message of Ruavieja's shocking Christmas ad.

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