The sportscar manufacturer has been overtaken by Apple in the annual CoolBrands top 20.
James Bond, as well as thousands of little boys and grown men alike, will not be happy. Aston Martin has lost its crown to Apple as the coolest brand in Britain. In fact, the exclusive and much idolized carmaker, which has held the top spot in the annual CoolBrands list for six of the past seven years, was beaten not just by Apple in first place, but also by YouTube, which moved up into second place.
PHOTOS: 100 YEARS OF ASTON MARTIN
The top-20 list, revealed Monday, is rounded off by Twitter in fourth place, followed by Google, the BBC iPlayer, the Glastonbury Festival, Virgin Atlantic, Bang & Olufsen, Liberty, Sony, Bose, Häagen-Dazs, Selfridges, with Ben & Jerry’s, Mercedes-Benz, Vogue, Skype, Nike, and Nikon completing the list.
Of the results, Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the CoolBrands expert council, said: “It is interesting that in this age of austerity our perception of cool has increasingly shifted from aspirational, luxury brands to free or more affordable brands that provide us with pleasure.” Just under 3,000 consumers and a panel of 39 ‘key influencers’ ranked a shortlist of 1,200 brands from more than 10,000. Each brand earned points for elements such as innovation, originality, style, uniqueness and desirability before being put to a public vote.
Despite seeing Aston Martin slip in the rankings for the first time in almost a decade, the latest survey will do little to dent the brand’s appeal or the popularity of its stand at next week’s Paris Motor Show (September 29-October 14), where Europeans will get their first chance to see the latest incarnation of its DB9 and Vanquish supercars — expected to be one of the highlights of the event.
AFP/RELAXNEWS
