Microsoft claims top spot in UK Superbrands survey

Luxury watchmaker Rolex were second, beating last year’s winner Google into third place.

Consumers are asked to vote on a total of 500 brands which have been whittled down from a shortlist of 1,400 by an expert council chaired by Stephen Cheliotis, chief executive of The Centre for Brand Analysis.

Cheliotis said: “This year’s survey reaffirms some of the downturn’s winners and losers, with fast food chains and supermarkets doing particularly well. The results, as always, return some surpises with this year’s notable high achiever being Encyclopedia Britannica.”

The complete rundown of the top 500 brands is available for download here. The top ten is as follows:

1. Microsoft
2. Rolex
3. Google
4. British Airways
5. BBC
6. Mercedes-Benz
7. Coca-Cola
8. Lego
9. Apple
10. Encyclopedia Britannica

YouGov has handled the online consumer vote since 2006. Business Superbrand rankings were published earlier this year, with Gallup, Ipsos Mori and Mintel leading the market research category.