Apple retains ‘coolest brand in UK’ title - survey

APPLE has retained its title as the coolest brand in Britain for a fourth year but challengers are emerging in the form of Netflix and Instagram, according to an annual survey.

As Apple introduces its latest iPhone offering in the UK, the 6s model, the marque still attracts great clamour. Picture: PA

The CoolBrands top 20 has seen luxury names lose out to make way for six new entries including the home system Sonos, as its more established competitors Bose and Sony dropped out.

Other new entries are Spotify, suggesting some competition for Apple Music, and Adidas.

The healthy foods retailer Whole Foods Market is another new entry, while London’s influence on the rankings remains in the form of Shoreditch’s boutique Ace Hotel and the Royal Albert Hall, also new arrivals in the rankings, and the department store Liberty.

The first appearance on the list for the Royal Albert Hall follows a contemporary programme featuring the likes of veteran DJ Pete Tong and singer songwriter Emeli Sande.

Other brands to lose their place are Selfridges, Dom Perignon, Rolex and Stella McCartney.

Streaming service Netflix continued its charge up the rankings from 10th place last year to fifth, while Instagram rose from 14th to seventh.

The list is voted by 2,500 consumers and a panel of 36 “key influencers”, which this year included musicians Ella Eyre and Labrinth and British Fashion Council chief executive Caroline Rush.

Voters were asked to bear in mind style, innovation, originality, authenticity, desirability and uniqueness when listing their brand selections.

CoolBrands spokesman Stephen Cheliotis said: “Attaining top 20 CoolBrands status takes time and isn’t the result of a one year fad or flash in the pan.

“Young brands however, like Netflix and Instagram, are showing clear momentum. They are moving up the top 20 at a decent pace and posing a threat to established sector peers, suggesting they’ll challenge the leading brand overall. How long Apple hangs on to pole is hard to predict but as the initial excitement around new products dies down, evaluation on how pioneering these are could be telling.”

Twitter remains out of the top 20 after dropping out last year, when Instagram made its debut at number 14.

Last week it emerged that Instagram is now bigger than Twitter, as the number of monthly users increased by 100 million in just nine months.

The photo-sharing app, which was bought by Facebook for £650m in 2012, is growing faster than analysts expected with 400 million regular users.

Rapid growth in countries such as Brazil and Japan is one of the main reasons for the soaring user numbers.

The social network is also playing an increasingly-important role for brands, including Disney which posts movie trailers to the service.

Twitter – which competes for the same advertisers as Instagram – reported 304 million monthly active users in its most recent quarter, up just 12 per cent year-on-year.