Apple named coolest brand in 2012 in year of tech giants

The technology giant behind the recently launched iPhone5 knocked James Bond’s favoured Aston Martin into third place, in a year in which tech superbrands have risen to the top.

The 11th annual poll placed West Coast’s YouTube second, Twitter fourth and Google fifth.

It marks the first time Jack Dorsey's six year old microblogging platform, Twitter, has entered the Coolbrands Top 20, a list better known for aspirational luxury brands in the past.

Just under 3,000 British consumers and a panel of 39 'key influencers', including chart acts Rizzle Kicks and Plan B and actor David Harewood, ranked a shortlist of 1,200 brands from more than 10,000 initially considered.

The panel scored each brand for factors including innovation, originality, style, authenticity, desirability and uniqueness ahead of the public vote.

This year, almost half the list is made up of technology and media brands (45%), compared with just one quarter last year.

The perceived coolness of the likes of the BBC iPlayer, Vogue and Skype, suggests communications and entertainment brands are trumping the more extravagant brands during these tough economic times.

Luke Peters, editor of T3 and panel member, said: "The fact that half of the top twenty are tech brands demonstrates how consumers see the technology they use as important as the clothes they own, the food they eat and the cars they drive.

The  compilers of the survey note it is the most "affordable" list yet, with 25% of the brands free to consumers, and 15% costing under £10. Luxury brands appearing in recent years that have fallen out of the top 20 in 2012 include Maserati, Ferrari, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.

Peters added: "It's also telling that four of the top ten are free tech services, suggesting that - in these austere times - consumers are engaging with free content rather than buying it."

CoolBrands: Top 20 cool brands
Rank	2012	2011
1	Apple	Aston Martin
2	YouTube	Apple
3	Aston Martin	Harley-Davidson
4	Twitter	Rolex
5	Google	Bang & Olufsen
6	BBC iPlayer	BlackBerry
7	Glastonbury	Google
8	Virgin Atlantic	Ferrari
9	Bang & Olufsen	Nike
10	Liberty	YouTube
11	Sony	Alexander McQueen
12	Bose	Dom Perignon
13	Haagen-Dazs	PlayStation
14	Selfridges	Ray-Ban
15	Ben & Jerry\'s	Chanel
16	Mercedes-Benz	Nintendo
17	Vogue	Vivienne Westwood
18	Skype	Agent Provocateur
19	Nike	Tate Modern
20	Nikon	Maserati

 

Recognising how subjective and personal definitions of "cool" can be, the opinions of the Expert Council (80%) and the British public (20%) were combined, with the best performing brands awarded CoolBrands status.

Who is on the CoolBrands Expert Council 2012/13?

Plan B: British Rapper, Singer-Songwriter, Actor & Film Director
Carl Barât: Musician, Actor and Author
Alex Box: Makeup Artist, Visionary & Creative Directore of Illamasqua
Gemma Cairney: Radio Presenter & Journalist
Rob da Bank: DJ & Bestival Founder
Ben de Lisi: Fashion Designer
Eliza Doolittle: Singer-Songwriter
James-lee Duffy: Art Director, Graphic Designer & Illustrator, We Are Shadows
Gizzi Erskine: Chef & Food Writer
Sadie Frost: Actress & Fashion Designer
Kate Halfpenny: Fashion Designer & Stylist
Ruby Hammer MBE: Brand Creator & Marketing Consultant
David Harewood MBE: Actor
Rickie Haywood-Williams & Melvin Odoom: Presenters of Kiss 100 Breakfast Show
Kelly Hoppen MBE: Designer
Quentin Jones: Illustrator & Filmmaker
Millie Kendal MBE:  Brand Creator & Marketing Consultant
Rizzle Kicks:  Pop-Rap Duo
Daisy Knights: Jewellery Designer
Mark Krendel: Partnerships Director of Universal Music Group UK
Lee Lapthorne: Fashion & Creative Director
Susanna Lau (aka Susie Bubble): Writer and blogger of Style Bubble
Izzy Lawrence:  TV Presenter & Blogger
Bip Ling: Blogger,DJ & Model
Hannah Marshall: Designer
Zara Martin: TV Presenter, DJ & Model
Liz Matthews: Publicist
Natasha McNamara: Digital Editor, glamour.com
Callum Negus Fancey: Founder & CEO of Let's Go Holdings
Paul Percival & Adam Reed: Co-Founders, Percy & Reed
Luke Peters: Editor, T3 magazine
Charlotte Riley: Actor
Gisèle Scanlon: Broadcaster, Author & Founder of thegoddessguide.com
Lisa Snowdon: Presenter, Model & Co-host of Capital Breakfast Show
Anna-Marie Solowij: Beauty Journalist & Brand Consultant
Tabitha Somerset-Webb: Founder, Project D & Tabitha
Jo Tutchener: Founder, Beauty Seen PR
Grace Woodward: TV Presenter &  Fashion Creator
Charli XcX: Singer

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