Urbanites would rather pay more for an A-List brand, than settle for a less premium product.

Trends in today’s society emphasise how vital it is for businesses to understand the concept of “cool”. And more importantly, how to apply it to their brands.

Metro A-List is a new study dedicated to finding out which brands, products, places and even people are currently considered cool amongst Urbanites. It also gives insightful clues about how to push your brand into A-List territory.

Using our own Urban Life panel of 18-44, full time working Metro readers, the research highlights the current trends of “cool” in society, delves into finding out what makes certain brands A-List, how Urbanites discover these brands and why it’s so important for brands to be considered premium in modern society.

Some key findings from the A-List research:

• 47% of Urbanites are willing to pay more for a cool brand, versus 38% who aren’t.
• The most important factors to becoming an A-List brand are to excel in being stylish, innovative and original.
• 53% of Urbanites consider ‘word of mouth’ to be the main tool for finding out about cool brands. A brand must have ‘talkability’ and relevance in today’s society.
• ‘Cool’ in itself is losing its cool - our research provides plenty of current, alternative words.
• Top performing A-List brands include:
  • Apple
  • Diesel
  • Lady Gaga
  • Aston Martin

Metro has created a short video that demonstrates the current, urban cool landscape. To check it out, or to find out more about this new study contact your Metro rep.