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Top Projector Brands Named in TFCinfo’s Annual Projector Brand Perception And Preference Research

tfcinfo-0114TFCinfo today announced the completion of its “Projector Brand Customer Perception and Preference Study 2014.” This report marks the 13th year that this annual projector brand benchmarking study has been conducted. Results of TFCinfo’s new report reveal significant movement among projector competitors in the three measurable areas of brand strength: awareness, image and intent. These areas are analyzed across the five most important market segments in the projector industry: large corporations, SMB, SOHU (small office/home user), education and government.

Many brands are solidifying their position; some are moving up in rankings and expanding their dominance from other markets, while others remain stationary. While many brands were researched in-depth and each show significant strengths and weaknesses in certain areas, a few brands stand out above the rest in this year’s research. Some of the general brand highlights from this research include:

Epson: Epson again has a stellar performance this year among those in the education market, however it is their improvements in other markets this year that make the brand stand out. Epson shows great improvement this year in the more business oriented segments, and has especially strong results coming in from the SOHU market.  Epson improved their unaided and aided awareness scores, as well as their purchase consideration, in four of the five market segments surveyed (a 6 percent gain in consideration among SOHU alone). Epson also has one of the strongest and most clear brand profiles compared to their competitors in the Brand Image Index analysis. Epson is in a great position being viewed as a high quality, reliable brand that is considered both an excellent investment and a good value for the money.

NEC: In our examination and comparison of the key market segments, TFCinfo found that while
NEC continues to be driven by large business the brand is beginning to successfully transfer their positive image and reputation to other market segments. This year NEC’s most notable improvements come from the education market where the brand improves upon their unaided free recall, aided brand recognition, and purchase consideration. NEC is considered to be a high quality, reliable brand by experienced projector end users.

Sharp: In previous years Sharp had posted gains in some segments and losses in others, leaving the brand in relatively the same position. This year Sharp has turned this around and is showing some really positive momentum.  Sharp posts gains in every single market segment on unaided awareness, and posts aided brand recognition gains in four of the five segments surveyed. While Sharp does have an advantage in SOHU, as the brand has a strong retail presence and various other consumer product offerings, these research results are showing that brand is improving in other segments. The most positive improvements this year for Sharp come from those in large corporations. Sharp is also beginning to be viewed as not only a value, but an investment.

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Panasonic: Our brand association and use analysis shows that Panasonic is one of the most considered brands for purchase (tying with Epson). Being a strong name in the consumer market continues to help the brand to be named one of the top brands associated with home theater projection, and this supports their strong scoring in SOHU throughout this year. Panasonic is also one of the top performers in the Brand Image Index and has one of the clearest profiles of all the brands surveyed.

InFocus: Considering all of the changes at InFocus over the years, the brand continues to do well. InFocus posts gains in unaided free recall and aided brand awareness in three of the five segments surveyed this year, and remains one of the most recognized brands in the projector industry. InFocus is clearly seen as an inexpensive, mobile projector, and continues to be easily identifiable as a brand that specializes in projectors and projector technology.  Considering their long history in the category, this image is not likely to change for some time regardless of changes with the company.

Sony: Despite some setbacks over the past few years in this annual tracking research, Sony’s strong brand strength continues to be clearly evident in the projector category. Sony is one of the top four most recognized projector brands overall and is the #1 brand on unaided free recall in SOHU this year (tying with Panasonic) and also the #1 brand on aided brand recognition in SOHU as well. Sony performs very well on important affinity attributes, placing in the top three for the majority of important purchasing factors surveyed (such as quality, reliability, price as an investment and ease of use).

Dell: While Dell has not been a top performer in this research over the years, and the brand continues to appear under recognized compared to their current market share, they have shown continuous improvements year over year. Dell posts gains in unaided free recall and aided brand recognition in four of the five market segments surveyed this year. Dell also improves upon their purchase consideration as well. Experienced users and purchasers clearly view Dell as an affordable, easy to use mobile projector.

Brands that are analyzed in depth include: 3M, Dell, Dukane, Eiki, Epson, Hitachi, InFocus, Mitsubishi, NEC, Optoma, Panasonic, Runco, Sharp and Sony.

This extensive 350+ page report reveals detailed customer insights and analysis that will help manufacturers to build and sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This report will give your company the tools it needs to successfully measure the effectiveness of your brand investments and marketing, and will aide a manager’s ability to guide business decisions over the long term.

The entire report is here.

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