Apple remains worlds “coolest” brand in the UK; sentiment shifts towards luxury brands

CoolBrands conducts an annual survey on the popularity of UK brands. Their top ten “coolest brands” are listed below:

1. Apple
2. Aston Martin
3. Rolex
4. Nike
5. Glastonbury
6. YouTube
7. Google
8. Twitter
9. Virgin Atlantic
10. Ray-Ban.

Interviewed by Huffington Post UK, Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands council, said: "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.”

This is good news for luxury brand owners, as well as their licensees who will command higher price premiums at the retail level. That’s how coolness translates to value for many.

For others, it’s all about share price. It is interesting that Twitter is on the list, as their major asset is overwhelmingly their brand (bolstered by some 200M enthusiastic and loyal customers). IAM Magazine reports Twitter has just two organic patents (and several more through acquisition), and yet the company has a coming IPO with an estimated value of nearly $10B.