Lexington, Kentucky, USA - October 29, 2001 - WhatTheyThink.com, a leading on-line community and research firm, surveyed print buyers about their awareness and favorability of major equipment suppliers and manufacturers serving the graphic arts industry. This survey took place with 197 print buying professionals located throughout the United States. We reported the overall results on October 16th. The findings below are cross-tabulated by the print buyer’s annual budget. The results indicate brand awareness and favorability findings for buyers spending over $100,000 annually on print and those spending under $100,000. *The findings below will have different implications for each supplier. Some industry manufacturers and suppliers also offer consumer products like cameras, fax machines, desktop scanners and even cars (Mitsubishi). So findings for some of these companies should be examined as an overall glance as opposed to awareness of the manufacturer’s “graphic arts efforts.” Also note that a low brand awareness may be positive for some suppliers because their primary customer is the print vendor, not the print buying professional. Conversely, many manufacturers seek awareness of their products from buyers even though their primary customers are printers. The goal of the survey was to determine brand awareness and favorability on a national scale. We included 23 suppliers in this survey: AB Dick, AGFA, Canon, CreoScitex, Dupont, Epson, Fuji Film, General Binding Corp, Heidelberg, Hewlett Packard, Ikon, Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Komori, MAN Roland, Mitsubishi, Oce, Pitney Bowes, Polaroid, Presstek, RISO, Scitex, Xeikon and Xerox. The question asked: Select your perception of the below major equipment suppliers/manufacturers to the industry. Favorable Neutral Unfavorable Never heard of the company Brand Awareness Among Buyers Spending Over $100,000 Annually on Print Top brands among large buyers included: Canon, Epson, Fuji Film, Hewlett Packard, Pitney Bowes and Xerox. Each of these firms had a 99% brand awareness rating. Favorable Ratings Among Buyers Spending Over $100,000 Annually on Print Brands with the highest favorable ratings among these buyers included: Heidelberg - 77% rating, Xerox - 74% rating, and Hewlett Packard - 73% rating. Brand Awareness Among Buyers Spending Under $100,000 Annually on Print Top brands among mid and smaller buyers included: Canon, Hewlett Packard and Xerox. Each of these firms had a 99% brand awareness rating. Favorable Ratings Among Buyers Spending Under $100,000 Annually on Print Brands with the highest favorable ratings among these buyers included: Xerox - 78% rating, Canon - 74% rating, and Polaroid - 63% rating.