Luxury brands lose their ‘cool’ status as digital challengers climb the ranks

Apple has retained its position as the UK’s coolest brand and tops the annual CoolBrands list for a fourth year running, carrying on its momentum after introducing a new Apple TV device and iPhone 6S earlier this month.

But new challengers are steadily emerging. Netflix and Instagram, both of which first made it into the top 20 last year, continue to move upwards. Netflix has climbed from 10th to fifth place while the latter rose from 14th to seventh. Twitter doesn’t make the cut.

Despite a better economic environment, luxury brands have generally lost out, with Dom Perignon, Rolex and Stella McCartney all falling out of the top 20.

“Young brands like Netflix and Instagram are showing clear momentum. They are moving up the top 20 at a decent pace and posing a threat to established sector peers, suggesting they’ll challenge the leading brand overall,” says Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands Council.

“How long Apple hangs onto pole position is hard to predict, but as the initial excitement around new products dies down, evaluation on how pioneering these are could be telling.”

The official 2015/16 CoolBrands Top 20 is:

1. Apple
2. Ray-Ban
3. Glastonbury
4. Nike
5. Netflix
6. Alexander McQueen
7. Instagram
8. Chanel
9. YouTube
10. Aston Martin
11. Spotify
12. Google
13. Royal Albert Hall
14. Sonos
15. Whole Foods Market
16. Bang & Olufsen
17. Ace Hotel
18. Adidas
19. Virgin Atlantic
20. Liberty

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