In our 10th annual Brand Report Contract continues our policy of socially responsible publishing, and we conducted all research via an online survey. The Brand Report is the industry’s only unaided study that asks for a top-of-mind response of the respondents’ three preferred brands in 32 categories.

This year we added a much broader question, asking the respondents for the singular brand that perpetually inspires them. There were more than 200 responses to this question, demonstrating that there are many and varied resources that provide inspiration for the practice.

The Top 10 companies listed here are examples of outstanding tradition and culture along with a few that are rapidly catching the attention and the favor of the industry.

When thinking about brands that inspire you to create your best commercial design solutions, who are the top that come to mind?

1. Knoll
www.knoll.com

2. Herman Miller
www.hermanmiller.com

3. Steelcase
www.steelcase.com

4. 3form
www.3-form.com

5. Haworth
www.haworth.com

6. Armstrong
www.armstrong.com

6. InterfaceFLOR
www.interfaceflor.com

8. Teknion
www.teknion.com

9. Bernhardt
www.bernhardtdesign.com

9. Maharam
www.maharam.com

Methodology
The 2009 Contract Brand Awareness Survey was fielded as an Internet survey utilizing a sample of Contract magazine subscribers. The sample totaled 15,852 of which 2,369 opened the survey and 351 (15 percent) participated.

As a quality control, respondents were double screened (by list identification and self reported occupation/company affiliation) to restrict participants to either an architectural or design function in one of four types of companies:
1. architectural firm
2. design firm
3. firm providing both architectural and design services
4. corporate architectural or design function
(not affiliated with an industry manufacturing or distribution company)

As in previous Contract Source Guide Brand Awareness surveys, respondents were asked to identify the top three manufactures in each of 32 categories. Respondents were instructed to only respond for categories with which they have familiarity. All responses were unaided, no brand name prompts or lists were provided to assure responses were unbiased. Responses were tabulated and reported by each of the 32 categories as total, architect, designer, both and other.

This survey provides a statistically valid comparison of results for the 2009 Contract Source Guide Brand Awareness Survey with an overall margin of error of +/- 5.3 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

Hank Schaller
President/CEO
Aspen Media and
Market Research

Click here for category rankings.