Apple named ‘coolest’ brand

The technology brand adds its first ever title as the UK’s coolest brand to its status as BrandZ’s most valuable brand in the world. It replaces Aston Martin, which fell to to third after dominating the top spot in six of the previous seven annual CoolBrands surveys.

Almost half of the list is made up of technology and media brands (45 per cent) compared with a quarter last year, while a record number of online brands featured in the top 20.

Youtube moved up eight places from last year to second, while Twitter and Google were ranked fourth and fifth respectively. Facebook, however does not feature in the top 20.

The BBC iPlayer, the Glastonbury festival, Virgin Atlantic, Bang & Olufsen and department store Liberty rounded out the top 10.

Luxury brands that dominated last year’s list including Maserati, Ferrari, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, have all been dropped out of the top 20 this year.

Apple, which has just launched its iPhone smartphone device to record sales in the UK, tops a list in which a quarter of the top 20 brands were free and three cost less than £10.

Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands Expert Council, says: “It’s interesting that in this age of austerity our perception of cool has increasingly shifted from aspirational, luxury brands to free more affordable brands that provide us with pleasure. The presence of the online brands like BBC iPlayer, Twitter, YouTube and Skype are a great case in point.”

Just under 3,000 consumers and a panel of 39 ‘key influencers’ including British rappers Plan B and actor David Harewood, ranked a shortlist of 1,200 brands from more than 10,000 initial considered. The panel scored each brand for factors such innovation, style and authenticity before their choices were put out to the public to vote.

In May, Apple was named the most valuable brand for the second year in a row, according to a global study by BrandZ.