Swiss luxury watch-maker Rolex voted UK’s top consumer brand

Swiss luxury watch-maker Rolex has once again been voted the number one consumer brand in Britain, the first time in six years that a brand has been ranked on top for two years in a row, leaving technology giants Apple and Microsoft trailing at second and third place.

A survey based on a shortlist of 1,700 brands compiled by researchers and voted on by about 3,000 consumers in the UK, saw Rolex retaining first place, while other household brands including Kellogg's, Heinz, Lego, Nescafé, Coca-Cola, Disney and Facebook, making up half of the top consumer ''superbrands'' 20.

With the iPhone and the iPad becoming very popular in the UK, Apple jumped 16 places to come in the second spot, while Microsoft came in third, followed by British Airways and Coca Cola.

Of the top 10, only British Airways and Heathrow Airport were British brands, while six were from the US and one each from Switzerland and Germany.

(Technically Heathrow Airport is no longer a British-owned brand as it is now run by Heathrow Airport Holdings, which is owned by an international consortium that includes Spain's Ferrovial, Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and GIC Special Investments, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.)

Microsoft rose from  45th place last year, while social networking site Facebook entered for the first time the top 20, but its rival Twitter was way down at 86.

Other British brands in the top 20 were BBC at No 13, Marks & Spencer at 17, BP at 18 and Dulux at 19.

For oil giant BP, it was a huge comeback from 35th spot last year although it continues to face severe onslaught on its 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, while BBC dropped to 13th place from 5th last year after it was rocked by allegations that its former television presenter Jimmy Savile was involved in a child abuse sex scandal.

Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the Superbrands Expert Council, said, 'As consumers remain unsettled and fearful over what feels like endless economic doom and gloom, malpractice in key institutions and a weakening position for Britain in a changing world, it is perhaps no surprise that we are turning to reassuringly familiar brands that we have known throughout our lives - often much-loved British establishments that we still trust, despite recent problems for some.''

Apple, the maker of iPod, iPhone and the iPad, was named best business superbrand, replacing Rolls-Royce, which fell 15 places after being two years at the top.

Other brands that have featured in the 10 top business brands include Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, IBM, Royal Dutch Shell, London Stock Exchange Group and MasterCard among others.

Superbrands survey is conducted by Superbrands UK, a company that offers insight into Britain's strongest brands.