According to the research group Superbrands, Aston Martin is the coolest brand in UK for the second year in a row. In the top CoolBrands of 2007 Aston Martin defeated internet giants such as YouTube, Google and eBay or popular consumer electronics like iPod or PlayStation.

The success of Casino Royale – and the rekindled love affair between the British public and Bond as a result - shows there is a deeply ingrained association with the man and the car in the minds of Britons. “James Bond” and Casino Royale were named the coolest films in the survey – proving that Bond’s allure to both men and women shows no sign of waning.

The top CoolBrands of 2007 demonstrate that heritage and long-standing brands are considered just as cool as those that have only come to prominence in the past five years

In order to determine the coolest brands a longlist – consisting of over 5,500 brands – was compiled by independent researchers. This was whittled down to a shortlist of 1,169 brands – on which The CoolBrands Council (including Radio One DJ Trevor Nelson and designerBen Di Lisi voted on - producing a list of 650 top scoring brands. Afterwards 2,246 consumers gave their opinions in an online election managed by research agency YouGov. The CoolBrands were ranked with a 70/30 weighting which favoured the council.

However the definition of cool is subjective and is based on the six key factors identified by the CoolBrands research which were considered by the Council and consumers in making their decisions. The six factors are in fact questions such as Are they stylish?, Are they innovative?, Are they original?,  Are they authentic?, Are they desirable ? and Are they unique?

In fact the top ten is dominated by cars, Internet and technology. Apple’s iPod was rated as the second popular brand and YouTube, which seems to be one of the most popular websites in UK, has come on the third place. The Danish hi-fi firm Bang and Olufsen made it to the fourth place, while Google was ranked as the fifth most popular brand by the Britons.

Despite the Nintendo Wii’s success, which has just become the best selling games console of the past decade, PlayStation is still more popular as the Sony’s gaming platform made it to the sixth place, three places ahead their competitors, Nintendo. The makers of iPod, Apple, have taken the seventh place.

Underwear firm Agent Provocateur came in behind Apple in eighth place and Sir Richard Branson's airline Virgin Atlantic completed the top ten.

The other brands listed in the top 20 are Ferrari, Ducati, eBay, Rolex, Tate Modern, Prada, Lamborghini, Green & Black's, iTunes and Amazon.

“The top twenty is a reflection of our changing needs, wants and interests,” comments Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands Council.

“You could argue that it’s split into two pretty clearly defined categories – on the one hand, things can become cool by virtue of their necessity or prevalence in your life, like Google, or Amazon. On the other, the things you really want, but may know you’ll never get – like a Rolex; or a Ferrari - are considered just as cool.” he explained