Apple beats Aston Martin to retain top spot on CoolBrands 2013 list
Apple has retained the top spot for this year's CoolBrands list, beating automotive brand Aston Martin in second place as premium fashion brands see resurgence.
The top 10 brands on this year's list were Apple, Aston Martin, Rolex, Nike. Glastonbury, YouTube, Google, Twitter, Virgin Atlantic and Ray-Ban, established from a survey of 3,000 British consumers and a panel of 38 key influencers, including TV Chef, Gizzi Erskine, musicians Laura Mvula and Charli XCX, Bestival founder, Rob da Bank and model, Daisy Lowe.
Outside of the top 10, were Mercedes-Benz, Bang & Olufsen, Chanel, Prada, Adidas, BBC iPlayer, Sony, Sony Music, Alexander McQueen and Spotify.
Digital brands saw a fall in popularity this year, with YouTube, Google and BBC iPlayer all ranking lower than last year, with Skype not making the top 20 at all and Spotify the only new digital brand to climb into the top 20.
No retail brand was found in the top 20 list this year, after both Selfridges and Liberty disappearing placed highly last year.
Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands Council, queried how long Apple could retain the top spot on the list; "While Apple remained number one this year, question marks remain as to how long they might hold this position in the face of an increasingly competitive set of rivals - much will depend on their next few updates and their ability to regain the innovation initiative. Overall the top 20 saw a definite swing back to luxury brands as the affordable everyday brands slipped back. Fashion brands came back to the fore, with sport and music brands becoming more conspicuous."
He added: "Whether it's due to strong heritage, product quality or quite simply a correlation with the reviving British economy, this year's CoolBrands list shows an increasing number of luxury brands are back at the top of the cool list, reversing last years' trend of affordable everyday luxuries dominating."
The annual list is co-ordinated by The Centre for Brand Analysis, and is drawn from over 10,000 independently identified brands and shortlisted to just under 1,200.