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
