Kiss Insight

BRAND RESEARCH 04 November 2008

As part of Kiss Confidential’s Brand Radar work we recently decided to expand our research beyond just Kiss listeners and look at the UK as a whole. We’ve surveyed over 3,000 adults up and down the country in a quest to find out which are the nation’s coolest and most loved brands.

We wanted to focus on 5 ‘youth’ sectors and concentrate on some of the key market leading brands within those categories.  The categories we picked were cars, fashion, mobile phones, online and technology. We were testing 4 key metrics on a scale of 1 to 10; how cool they thought the brand was, how much they loved it, how innovative they thought it was and how relevant to their lives it was.  As you would expect brands such as Apple and Google dominate across age, sex and region although once you dig deeper into the results there are key trends to be seen.

We are covering the results in brief below and at the end of the article you can download all the PDFs. 

The Battle of the Sexes

Firstly we noticed an interesting trend among young females as their top five most cool and most innovative brands consisted entirely of internet or technology based brands.  The best performing fashion brand, Top Shop, was only ranked 7th for innovation and 6th for coolness.  

Fashion brands and retailers have historically been regarded as the trend-setters in the UK, especially among the female population.  This is now becoming less the case as online social networking sites and well-packaged consumer technology goods grow in popularity and sophistication.  

The dominance of internet and technology brands was also observed among the UK’s young men as car brands such as Audi and BMW now find themselves fighting for the same recognition and aspirational value as brands such as Apple and PS3.

Overall Apple is ranked as the most cool and innovative brand for 15-34s across the UK.  Regionally the country is unanimous that Apple is the coolest brand apart from in the North where the PS3 is ranked as the coolest brand.  

Despite Apple being the coolest and most innovative brand – Google is rated as the brand loved the most by 15-34s.  Apple is positioned as the brand young consumers aspire to buy and indulge in – but in their everyday lives Google is the most relevant and loved brand.

The Regional picture

The ‘north, south divide’ is often used to highlight house prices, TV choices and even eating habits but now we have a clear insight into the youth generation’s brands of choice and, surprisingly, the gulf the length of the country is once more evident.


Up T’North…

Northerners revealed that they would prefer to stay at home playing on their xBox or Playstation than catch up with friends on social networking sites. The results further revealed that those in northern cities tend to wear sporting brands, such as Nike & Adidas and would rather have a nice car, preferably an Audi or BMW, than the latest gadget or gizmo with brands like Sony Walkman and LG being voted as less cool.

Daan South…

On the flip side, the southerners polled see keeping in contact with mates as a priority by placing brands such as Facebook and Blackberry as some of their favourites. On the clothing and fashion front it was the ‘trendier’ brands such as Converse, Top Shop and H&M that came out as the must haves with FCUK and River Island slipping down the cool scale. Those down south also placed owning a nice car as less important than the latest gadgets with brands like Sony being voted cooler than the car giants of BMW and Peugeot.

Some other interesting spots…

South West

Apple isn’t just the main ingredient in the southwest’s favourite tipple, it is also the brand that is the coolest, according to the Kiss poll, with a rating of 7.5 out of 10 on the cool scale.  South westerners are also keener on cars than keeping in touch with mates, with Audi and BMW voted on average cooler than social networking sites, Facebook and Myspace. Fashion in the southwest is similar to that of London with brands such as Converse, H&M and Topshop voted much cooler than sports brands like Adidas and Nike.

East Anglia

The folks in East Anglia can never be criticised of not knowing what they like. The poll clearly shows that when it comes to brand allegiances east anglian’s choose their favourite brand and disregard all others, for example when it comes to social networking Facebook wipes the floor with Myspace and on the car front BMW is streets ahead of the likes of Fiat, Renault and Ford. It doesn’t stop there though, even brands like Sony Walkman are cast aside in favour of Apple and their iPod when it comes to gadgets – there is no half measures in the flatlands.

Scotland

The Scots are not interested in keeping in touch with mates and see gadgets and fashion as higher priorities according to the Kiss survey. Both social networking giants, Facebook and Myspace, came along way down the coolest brands list with gadget and gaming brands such as PS3, Xbox 360 & Apple and fashion brands like Nike, Topshop and H&M leading the way.

The Exception To The Rule…

The one exception to the research, again, is that of Apple. The technology giant, which has revolutionised the music and mobile industry with the iPod and iPhone, was voted the coolest brand across all areas of the UK bar one (North, where PS3 was first) proving that occasionally the North and South agree on something.

Going Forward

This is an ongoing project for us at Kiss and one that we are hoping to expand in 2009.  We are always looking to explore new sectors and test new brands to build up a full brand picture across the UK.

If you would like us to look at your brand please email Mark Crawford, Kiss Head of Research or call on 020 7182 8218.

Download - Love Brands PDF (377 kb)

Download - Cool Brands PDF (360 kb)

Download - Innovative Brands PDF (355 kb)

Download - Relevant Brands PDF (411 kb)