Aston Martin named coolest brand in Britain thanks to 007

13-Sep-2007 • Bond News

The James Bond effect has helped keep Aston Martin at the top of the latest list of the UK's coolest brands, according to a report.

However, new media darlings such as MySpace and Bebo have failed to win top spots in consumer's hearts, according to the latest CoolBrands ranking - reports the Gaurdian

Aston Martin, which headed last year's list, held on to the top spot because of the success of Casino Royale and "the re-kindled love affair between the British public and Bond as a result", said the report.

Behind Aston Martin, new consumer brands feature heavily in the top 20 companies on the CoolBrands list, which is determined from the results of a YouGov poll of more than 2,000 members of the public and the CoolBrands Council.

The iPod came second, with sister Apple brand iTunes ranked 19th. Third spot went to YouTube, Bang and Olufsen came in 4th and Google 5th.

CoolBrands' top 10 was filled out with PlayStation, Apple, Agent Provocateur, Nintendo and Virgin Atlantic at number 10.

Of the social networking websites MySpace could only manage 29th and Bebo 416th. The iPhone was at number 23.

Facebook did not make the longlist for consideration for the latest CoolBrands top 500, a measure of the social networking site's meteoric rise in traffic and profile in the past few months.

"The top 20 is a reflection of our changing needs, wants and interests," said Stephen Cheliotis, the chairman of the CoolBrands Council.

"You could argue that it is 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," he said.

"On the other, the things you really want but may know you will never get - like a Rolex or a Ferrari - are considered just as cool."

Vogue magazine was the top ranked media brand at 69, with Vanity Fair 112th, Marvel Comics 123rd, NME 211th, Grazia 243rd, Popbitch 270th, GQ 289th and Dazed and Confused 311th.

In terms of newspapers, the Guardian was the top-ranked brand at 166th, with the Observer 207th, Independent 223rd and Sunday Times 367th.

The 26-strong CoolBrands Council includes Nicki Bidder, editor-in-chief of Dazed & Confused; Paul Croughton, assistant travel editor at the Sunday Times; Dolly Jones, the editor of Vogue.com; DJ Trevor Nelson; TV presenter June Sarpong; and Dylan Williams, a strategist at Mother London.

Thanks to `Russian Mummy` & `Seb` for the alerts.