When we asked people to vote for what they thought was the coolest brand, we were expecting companies such as Apple, Google, Nike and some automotive brands to lead the list.  However there was one surprise: lingerie brand, Agent Provocateur.  Started in 1994 in London’s Soho, by Joseph Corré and his partner Serena Rees, Agent Provocateur has managed to tred a line that balances eroticism and fashion.  There are sex shops that sell some ranges close to Agent Provocateur and there are some mainstream fashion brands that sell sexy lingerie, but Agent Provocateur sells a tongue in cheek but fun lifestyle, from its pink mini skirt wearing sales assistants to its quirky stories to the now infamous Kylie Minogue cinema advertisement.

What’s interesting about Agent Provocateur as a brand it that it truly lives up to its name.  It doesn’t try to follow other lingerie brands, but rather it defines its own offer. This is not an organisation driven by research, but by an adaptive and intuitive feeling for what is right at a particular point in time. As Serena Rees says ‘We are not afraid to take risks. We don't have to answer to anybody else. If we want to do something we simply do it. We don't care what anyone else thinks and we are fiercely passionate about what we do.’

Of the things that seem to define cool brands, there are perhaps three important but elusive ideals. One is the courage to do things differently. The second is to build a real link with the customer, so that they feel a strong identification with the brand and the third is the ability to structure the organisation to deliver the brand consistently.  It seems that Agent Provocateur clearly has the first element in place and that it is also capable of building an intimate connection to its customers, based around the idea of Corré that Agent Provocateur understands ‘the difference between a mass experience, dictated by market forces and meaningless advertising, and an intensely private, wholly personal experience.’

Agent Provocateur is now a global brand, so the real challenge lies in the third ideal. Can the brand still maintain its edge and the consistency of experience as it grows and requires more structure.  It’s a problem that many of the brands we admire have to face, but Corré seems to be a strong guardian of the brand’s values – after all they should be in his blood. His parents are the pioneers of punk,  designer Vivienne Westwood and the manager of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren.