Here are the 10 most watched ads on afaqs! in 2016

With the New Year just a day away, it's time for some recap now. And unlike thinking of resolutions of the year gone by, which mostly go unfulfilled and make us feel uneasy, this one will not... So, here's a list of the 10 ads that were most watched on afaqs! in 2016.

Two things, we think, stand out about these ads. One is that most of them are driven by celebrities; Nestlé Masala Fusion ad (Nimrat Kaur), #11 minutes (Deepak Dobriyal, Sunny Leone and Alok Nath), Diwali on Netflix (Anurag Kashyap), Asian Paints 'Bablu Ka Mundan (Virendra Saxena), Tata Sky #FamilyJingalala (Amitabh Bachchan), Kalyan Jewellers (Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan), and Flikart Matlab Bilkul Pakka (Amol Palekar and Namit Das). That's seventy per cent!

While this may seem to reinforce the tenets of old-school advertising, there's no denying the role of content/concept in almost all the above ads. But what's more telling is our second observation about them; five out of 10 are long-format videos.

Featuring actor Nimrat Kaur and comedian Kavi Shastri, the Nestlé Masala Fusion ad led the pack in 2016. Created by Publicis Groupe, it depicted a progressive, urban Indian couple. The film began with the husband making tea in the kitchen. When the astonished wife asks him what he is doing there, he replied, "Can't a husband make a cup of tea for his wife?" And that too 'masala chai', prepared in no time and without having to go through the fuss of grinding spices, thanks to Nestlé Masala Fusion.

Was it the song, the romantic tale, or the dreamy-eyed girl, Banita... or was it the kiss - the first in an Indian ad? Perhaps all of them, put together, made the story of Adi and Naira a success. This ad at No. 2 was an Indian remake of the successful and universally loved Wrigley's Sarah and Juan love story. Conceptualised by BBDO India and directed by filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, the video was accompanied by singer Gaurav Dagaonkar's contemporary rendition of the song "Ek Ajnabee Hasina Se", originally sung by Kishore Kumar.

A dying man's wish, and the coming together of smoking, sex and sanskaar! By that we mean, a critically ill Deepak Dobriyal, his last wish - Sunny Leone and 'Babuji' Alok Nath. The public service campaign, aimed at discouraging people from smoking was high on death, sex and drama - all that a Hindi film viewer can ask for. The film was conceptualised by Scarecrow Communications and Business of Ideas (a company with interests in content, media and entertainment). It finished third.

Save the Children USA and Big Block Live (US-based content production company) came up with an unconventional approach to a serious subject in their 2014 Mother's Day video, "The Most Important 'Sexy' Model Video Ever". The revealing video used New York City fashion models and sex appeal to expose the pressing needs of mothers in war-torn countries and urge social media users to take action. Curiously, it finds itself in the fourth place in our most-viewed ads list for this year.

Carrying forward its worldwide marketing campaign 'Real Beauty', Unilever's personal care brand, Dove, once again challenged the conventional notions of beauty with a digital video 'Is that You? #ChangeTheRhyme'. The campaign, produced in association with Culture Machine Media's lifestyle channel Blush, featured female athletes and sportswomen sweating it out to the tune of a nursery rhyme - 'Chubby cheeks, dimpled chin, rosy lips, teeth within; curly hair, very fair, eyes are blue, lovely too'- sung by kindergarten kids. The irony hit home.

The festival of Diwali makes most brands go all out to tug at their consumers' heartstrings - and purse strings, resulting in an assembly line of seemingly prototype ads. And it was these cookie-cutter ads that streaming service, Netflix mocked in its Diwali campaign, which featured film director Anurag Kashyap. Made by The Glitch, the ad with its satire-laden voiceover took viewers through various Diwali ad clichés.

This ad by Asian Paints touched a nerve with the Indian middle class. The film began with the father-in-law, played by actor Virendra Saxena, arriving home for his grandson Bablu's 'mundan' in a cycle rickshaw, snaking its way through narrow lanes; a typical middle-class imagery. He is upset about his son-in-law not getting the house painted for the occasion as this could spoil the family's image in front of the guests. But, Saxena was in for a surprise...

Often, television viewing takes up a large amount of time of our daily schedule even as family members keep squabbling over the coveted TV remote. Based on this insight was Tata Sky's #FamilyJingalala campaign, in which Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan sported a Bohemian look as he donned seven puppet-inspired avatars and rapped 'Yo Se, Yo Se' on the TV viewing habits of the 'Thakur clan'. The spot was created by Ogilvy & Mather.

This one's an ad from November 2015. Well, it's no exceptional insight or execution. Unlike the brand's earlier ad with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, it's not controversial either. So what clicked? Perhaps, the famous 'Amitabh-Jaya' chemistry...

Online marketplace Flipkart's campaign to highlight its easy exchange and return policy made it to this list at the last spot, thanks to the candid and witty conversation between a boss and his employee, played by actors Amol Palekar and Namit Das respectively. Through this conversation, the brand tried to establish that buying on Flipkart is not only as convenient as buying from 'Gupta Ji ki dukaan', it offers more options as well.