LONDON: British Airways, the airline, has emerged as the UK's top consumer brand for the second year in a row, according to the latest Consumer Superbrands survey, with luxury watchmaker Rolex keeping its second spot.

The annual survey, which is independently administered by The Centre for Brand Analysis, was based on the votes of 2,500 adults and a 33-strong council of senior industry figures for a shortlist of 1,500 brands. Factors considered include quality, reliability and distinction.

"British Airways retaining number one spot is a great example of a much-loved traditional brand that has also refreshed, re-focused on innovation and invested to remain attractive and relevant," said Stephen Cheliotis, Superbrands' council chairman.

The BBC rose one place to third, while Microsoft climbed two places to fourth and Nike leapt 11 places to fifth.

Entering the top 20 were retailer John Lewis, toymaker Lego, household appliance brand Dyson, cleaning product Fairy, ice-cream brand Haagen-Dazs and Virgin Atlantic, another airline.

Exiting the upper echelon of favoured UK brands were food manufacturers Heinz and Cadbury, online retailer Amazon, consumer electronics brand Sony, oil business Shell and retailer Marks & Spencer.

Cheliotis observed that, despite the buzz around new media businesses, consumers preferred established brands.

"Younger brands, such as the social media giants, are sitting on the sidelines making little impact as a huge battle takes place among trusted, traditional brands seeking to remain relevant and retain their positions among the brand elite," he said.

There was a mixed reception for the older generation of tech giants: as well as Microsoft, Apple had risen up the rankings, from 14th to tenth, but Google had slipped from seventh to 18th.

Everyday, low-cost household brands were also present in the top 20, including Kellogg's, the breakfast cereal maker, Andrex, the toilet tissue, and Fairy, the detergent. Soft drink giant Coca-Cola was there as well but had fallen from third to 15th place.

Superbrands also ran a separate survey asking 2,000 business professionals to name their top brands, and once again British Airways came out on top, with Apple in second place and Virgin Atlantic in third.

"Its overarching 'To Fly: To Serve' positioning and daily focus on exceptional service clearly continues to resonate with flyers," said Cheliotis, adding that the brand was also "benefiting from recent investments in its planes, lounges, marketing and technology".

Data sourced from Superbrands, Marketing Week; additional content by Warc staff