Who was naughty and who was nice this year?

Did Qantas end up on the good list or bad list? Source: News Corp Australia

Qantas has made the biggest reshuffle of it's senior executive team since 2012.

THE year is almost over and Australia has been witness to a number of success stories, as well as challenges that threatened to engulf the best of them.

Here's how 2014 played out in the world of brands we love and love to hate.

IT'S BEEN A GOOD YEAR FOR:

● ALDI

In the land of the supermarket duopoly, consumer advocates have hailed the emergence of discount chain Aldi as a genuine threat to the established order.

The German retailer, which opened its first Australian store in 2001, has gradually been growing its market share. It now sits in fourth place behind Woolworths, Coles and Metcash.

Aldi has some very enthusiastic fans. Source: News Corp Australia

This year has seen the chain come of age. A report last month by Morgan Stanley found that, with 350 stores and $4 billion in sales, the German retailer had reached "critical mass". This means it is now a force to be reckoned with, and has the power to change the dynamics of the market.

With about 10 per cent of the market in the eastern states, upcoming expansion into South Australia and Western Australia is set to supercharge growth in coming years.

● DOMINO'S PIZZA

In a year defined by carb-cutting, I Quit Sugar-ing, and gourmet hipster everything, who would have thought Brisbane-based Domino's Pizza would be the standout business success story?

A look at its share price tells you all you need to know: Domino's shares have skyrocketed by nearly 60 per cent this year and 500 per cent over the past five years.

The fast-food chain has successfully ridden the technology wave with its mobile and online ordering platforms, as seen by the popularity of its Pizza Mogul app.

Some customers have made big money off the Pizza Mogul app. Source: Supplied

With a market share in Australia and New Zealand of about 7 per cent of the fast-food category, it's the fifth-ranked fast-food restaurant and the highest-ranked pizza chain — and pizza is a growing category.

● ATLASSIAN

Software company Atlassian has often been hailed as the poster-child of the Australian start-up scene, and 2014 was a particularly good year.

Since starting in a Sydney garage with just $10,000 on a credit card back in 2002, founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have grown the company to a valuation of $3.5 billion.

Any office with a magic eight ball bean bag is pretty cool. Source: News Limited

The 12-year-old business took out the top honour in BRW magazine's annual Best Places to Work rankings this year, and scored third place in JobAdvisor's Coolest Tech Companies list.

Atlassian develops software for businesses, geared towards other software developers or project managers. Its customers include the likes of NASA, eBay and Deutsche Bank.

Despite an unconventional business model, which includes no sales staff, revenue grew by a massive 44 per cent in the 2013-14 financial year to $242 million.

The founders also topped the BRW Young Rich List.

● ARN

At a glitzy awards ceremony in Sydney last month replete with acrobats, a hip-hop violinist and Gina Rinehart, some guy called Ciaran Davis was named CEO of the Year — and with pretty good reason.

Moving Kyle and Jackie O to ARN was a risky move that paid off. Source: Supplied

He's the boss of Australian Radio Network and the man behind the successful migration of star breakfast duo Kyle and Jackie O from rival 2DayFM at the start of this year.

The move decimated 2DayFM's ratings and advertising revenue, and led to ARN's best year yet, taking out the number one and two FM stations and breakfast shows in Sydney and the number one FM stations around the country.

ARN's other star pair, Jonesy and Amanda, also took the number one spot later in the year.

Former Nova hosts Dave "Hughesy" Hughes and Kate Langbroek look set to spearhead the rebranding of Melbourne's Mix station to Kiis in the new year. A pretty good year, all in all.

● AIR NEW ZEALAND

The Kiwi carrier stands in stark contrast to Qantas, which — despite looking on track for a pretty stunning turnaround after a $2.8 billion loss — can't be said to have had a good year by many measures.

Air New Zealand's in-flight videos are something you'll actually pay attention to. Source: Supplied

Air New Zealand was again named Airline of the Year for the second consecutive year by AirlineRatings.com, with its in-flight innovations, record financial performance, operational safety and motivation of its staff coming in for praise.

"Quite simply, Air New Zealand is an airline of first choice," AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said. "And given the airline's location and the country's size its performance is even more remarkable."

That's not to mention its powerful social media appeal — its in-flight safety videos regularly attract millions of views online — and pop culture cut-through with its Hobbit/Lord of the Rings tie-in.

Pretty choice, eh brew?

IT'S BEEN A BAD YEAR FOR:

● QANTAS

They were the headlines no company CEO wants to see: "Qantas dives to record $2.8 billion loss" and "Qantas slashes 5000 jobs". So it's been a challenging year for Qantas.

When the Qantas dramarama was happening, more than a few people wanted to see Alan Joyce out the door. Source: News Corp Australia

Australia's iconic airline was plagued by one bad turn after another after it announced a record multi-billion loss as well as the axing of thousands of jobs. There were calls for parliamentary inquiries into the state of affairs and boss Alan Joyce's scalp.

It even rounded off the year with several midair turnarounds due to mechanical failures, all in the space of a few days.

But there are green shoots. After the year it's had, Qantas is well set up for next year as the airline announced it has returned to profits after the massive cost-cutting exercise that was 2014.

● COLES

Yes, people are still buying groceries. Lots and lots of groceries. But Coles has been beset by a PR cloud that didn't dog its chief rival, Woolworths, to the same degree.

Where "fresh" isn't always fresh. Source: Supplied

Central to this bad year was the fact that Coles was caught out for its "fresh-baked" claims on bread that wasn't, well, freshly baked. A lawsuit by the ACCC, and initiated by former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, found that Coles' freshly baked in store bread was actually partially baked thousands of kilometres away months in advance. Oops.

Coles was banned from using the "fresh" claims for three years and copped a $3 million fine. Which is nothing compared to the fines the supermarket giant is facing over how it's been treating its suppliers. That dirty laundry has also been aired in public which, along with 600 jobs being cut in its Toorak office, all spells a tough year for Coles.

● COMMONWEALTH BANK

OK, so CBA has actually had a good year in terms of its balance sheet. The bank made a record cash profit of $8.68 billion in its full-year earnings.

CBA chief executive officer Ian Narev faced a barrage of angry customers after the bank was exposed as having engaged in fraudulent practices. Source: News Corp Australia

But it was also embroiled in a PR storm when the financial planning scandal hit its full force in July. The bank apologised to customers after it was revealed that its employees were found to have given fraudulent advice to thousands of customers. One of the more brazen acts CBA's advisers undertook was forging signatures.

It's paid back $52 million to affected customers and set up an "open advice program" to investigate customers' claims but critics have said it's not enough, especially as the compensation scheme is being overseen by the bank itself.

● TOYOTA

The year started with a death knell for the car manufacturing industry in Australia. Following Holden's announcement at the end of last year that it would exit, Toyota followed suit in February. The Japanese brand will become solely an importer of its cars from 2017 — the first since 1968 when Corollas originally rolled off local production lines.

Toyota Australia president Max Yasada confirmed the manufacturer would no longer make cars in Australia. Source: News Limited

More than 2500 thousands jobs at Toyota's Altona factory will be lost within a few years, while an industry of 50,000 car manufacturing support positions is under threat.

Just like Holden and Ford before it, Toyota blamed the closures on new free trade agreements, the Australian dollar, the relatively high cost of local labour and low tariffs. Toyota has lost an estimated $1.75 billion over the past 10 years, despite taxpayer bailouts of about $1.2 billion.

Then in April, Toyota issued a recall of more than 300,000 cars.

● PIE FACE

It seemed like it was the little Aussie success story conquering the glittering lights of New York City. But underneath it, Pie Face was crumbling.

A less than happy face for Pie Face. Source: News Corp Australia

The eatery chain, which had more than 70 stores, was placed into administration in November after it emerged that a number of company-owned stores were losing money as well as growing pains in its US operations.

The Australian Financial Review predicted as many as 70 per cent of its stores faced closure.

Earlier this year, a franchisee in Brisbane sued the company alleging that he was "misled" over how lucrative the business would be.