While some brands showed desperate attempts in selling their concepts, there were others that strummed the right chords. Some ads just melted our hearts while some made us roll our eyes. Here is a compilation of what HIP thinks were the 'Best and Worst of 2015.'

Best Ads:

Tapal Danedar

Some may call me biased, but I can't help it if Fawad Khan makes my heart skip a beat! When we saw him in that lovable husb look in the latest Tapal Danedar ad, we all were swooning! The ad was something that was beyond the normal norms where a wife is making tea for the husband. I think the new generation needs to learn something from this particular TVC! This is one ad of the year where the marketing was done well. Its also fascinating to know how Tapal also came up with hashtag: #‎TumMeinAurAikCupChai‬ and asked to not only tag husbands, but also asked when they last made a cup of tea for their wives.

Coca Cola Ramadan 2015 – Celebrate Lights and Happiness (With Sky Lanterns)

As a marketing student, I am a fan of Coca Cola marketing campaigns. With Kun Faya-kun playing in the background, our heart melted this year seeing kids and people of all age flying the sky lanterns on the arrival of Ramadan Kareem revolving around the central theme of the brand; Khulein Khushiyan.

Pepsi - Light a life campaign

Finally after, kisney kaha tha Pepsi 65 kardo they came up with a sane way of attracting the audience. In June 2015, PepsiCo Pakistan launched a campaign #LightingUpLives where the star studded ad included Syra Shehroz, Sanam Saeed, Azfar Rehman, and Hamza Ali Abbasi. They were showed helping a village with recycled bottles! And need we say we loved Abida Parveen’s voice in the background!

Fawad and Mahira Khan in Lux Ad (for Lux Style Awards)

We hadn’t seen the power couple together ever since Humsafar so it was a treat to the eyes. Not only did we see them host the Lux Style Awards this year, but they also did the TVC for it! Lux has been known to have taken powerful celebrities as their brand ambassadors throughout!

Q Mobile – Mahira Khan ad

Finally after Arjun Kapoor and Jaqueline Fernandez we saw QMobile work with Mahira Khan for their Noir phones. This ad is our favorite because It's peppy, has the amazingly gorgeous Mahira Khan, and we love the location it is shot at! Take a look for yourself.

Shan Foods – Ramadan Campaign

The most viral ad of 2015 was the Shan Food Ramadan campaign! Horrible acting by the chota bhai, but I will ignore that because the concept in itself was amazing! The ad did hit all the people living abroad, positively, who miss their families and celebrating with their loved ones. I would give them 9/10 in terms of using the Theory of Emotions! Oh, and I didn’t know making Biryani was that easy?

Nestle Pyaray Pakistan Campaign

Independence day is a very touchy topic for most of us which is why the letter of Nestle to Pyaray Pakistan is so heart touching. In the world of technology where we send voice notes and emails or a whatsapp message around the globe, Nestle’s classic marketing effort of sending the letter did not go wrong at all. We know, conventional strategies are still the best! Reminds me of the days I used to wait for letters from my cousins from abroad.

HBL Corporate TVC – Samina Baig

So we all knew how much HBL was investing in advertising this year. With a very prominent appearance in Karachi se Lahore (which really felt like it was rubbed in our face). But this corporate ad of HBL, featuring Samina Baig is next level; Jahan Khawab, Wahan HBL! They proved that people should follow their dreams no matter what obstacles come our way!

Worst Ads:

Mobilink with Narghiz Fakhri Jazz X

I'm scarred for life after watching this ad. Seriously, what were they even thinking? And why is Nargis Fakhri floating in the middle. Mobilink used to be so creative. And when the ad starts, I can sense the fear the guy has of being mugged by someone riding a red mustang! I mean, again.. Seriously!

Fair and Lovely Ka Jalwa

As if MA MA by Sohai Ali Abro was not enough to irritate us, out came this ad! I had to watch it twice to realize that they are talking about Fair and Lovely Ka Jalwa! What happened to us not promoting fairness creams and not discriminating against dark girls from the apparent fair ones? Ab gora hoga Pakistan, hayye, now this reminds me of Zubaida Apa and her totkay.

Tarang Love Marriage TVC

The ad gets points for using the bolt technology which was the first of its kind in the advertising history of Pakistan, but the concept with the traditional pateela and tea cup was beyond our understanding! Too melodramatic, even though Tarang is known for producing quality ads full of drama and colors, but this ad did not get the point across and lost my interest in the first five seconds.

Hardees Print Ad

Hardees is known to be creative but they failed this time. They didn’t receive positive response from the audience as the way they advertised the fresh buns, apparently everyone knew what the intention was.

Line Messenger TVC

Pakistan’s leading instant messaging application was quick to get Hamza Ali Abbasi and Mehwish Hayatt to be part of the TVC, but the ad didn’t seem natural at all. Remember how Google had come up with their ad of connecting people between India and Pakistan, why couldn’t Line Messenger do anything of that sort?

Rani Puply

So exactly which Tabdeeli are we talking about here? So they transformed from Minute Maid Pulp to Rani Pulpy, but how can the brand use a political slogan to attract the audience and have them glued to the screen?