A few of my favourite things

Kingtox – Choray Ga Nahi, Maarega, Chun Chun Ke

Agency: Arey Wah

Category: TV, Digital

This is one of those rare TVCs that hit you with a whopper when you are cursing yourself for wasting 90 seconds of your life. Insightful, colloquial, two-edged punning and share-ability is what defines this concept. You watch it; then watch it again and then share it. All shot within one location with two actors and great direction. Brilliant! 

Pak Suzuki – Car Of A New Generation

Agency: Synergy Advertising

Category: TV

When we think of cars, we think of stunning lifestyle ads shot abroad with beautiful lighting, locations, interior/exterior shots, a handsome man driving, looking satisfied etc. Not this commercial. Suzuki beautifully and simply captures the excitement of a new car, with homely shots and life-like experiences that tug at our emotions and help us resonate with what is happening on screen. We can identify with the protagonist. We feel the excitement because it is our excitement; we felt it when we bought our first car. And chances are that it was a Suzuki. Liked it for its relevance and emotional tug.

Brite – Sab Right Kardega

Agency: Spectrum VMLY&R

Category: TV

There are those regular campaigns with a functional message that are forgettable and then there is the Bright campaign that burns the message in your mind. A well shot, superbly scripted TVC that hammers the message to a point where you are a believer. The ad never lets you forget that Brite is the go-to detergent that will make your day right. Brite Sab Right Kardega.

ICICI Lombard – World Heart Day

Agency: Ogilvy Mumbai

Category: TV, Digital

A well-scripted single camera ad that surprised me. And then delighted with its intelligence. So much so that I wanted to watch it again and again and then share. A must watch ad that stays with you. 

Jimmy Nelson Foundation – Blink Test

Agency: Jimmy Nelson Foundation

Category: Digital, VR

A brilliant awareness campaign for the preservation of cultural identity by Jimmy Nelson, the Blink Test is a unique AR-Human interface built on the Facebook platform that challenges viewers not to blink. Nelson has devoted his life to photographing indigenous cultures and preserving them. The Blink Test challenges us to not blink because the film stops when you blink. Blink again and the film covers a different indigenous culture. The simple action involves us in the experience and forces us to discover more. This is what is so brilliant about this ad. Intelligent and relevant use of tech augmented with stunning photography resulting in a great award-worthy idea and campaign.

#LetsBeatMS – Blurfie

Agency: Synite Digital

Category: Digital, PR

MS or Multiple Sclerosis is a disease which has very little awareness in Pakistan. It is a disease due to which people can suffer from partial or permanent blindness, organ failure, muscle failure or all of them. On World MS Day, the organisation came out with an amazingly insightful idea. The Blurfie. A blurred selfie that came from the simple idea of how a patient with MS would take a selfie. Iman Ali made an impact when she openly said that she has been battling MS for more than a decade. What I liked about the campaign was the simplicity with which awareness was created.

Berger Paints – Truck Art Child Finder

Agency: BBDO Pakistan

Category: Activation, BTL

I first fell in love with BBDO’s ideas in 2014 when they swept all the awards at Lynx Dubai and then all the major awards the same year. Since then, the team at BBDO comes out with amazing concepts that are simple, powerful and tug you at your core, where all you want to do is applaud and say to yourself “Why didn’t I think of that?”. The Truck Art Child Finder is just such an idea. Pakistani Truck Art is now world famous and our trucks actually travel to all the different corners of Pakistan. What better medium than to use these trucks to spread information about missing/kidnapped children? Best use of a medium if there ever was one.

HomePro – 7:1 Furniture Collection

Agency: BBDO, Bangkok

Category: Design, Digital

My favorite in design last year. The concept is amazing and the designs were the coolest pieces of furniture we saw. Our Group Creative Director showed this work to me because it had been the talk of the award scene but I loved it for the simple reason that amazing things DO happen when our agency strategy and design teams work together with the product team.

Emaad Ishaq is Business Director, Synite Digital.