Hewlett-Packard in a Word: ‘Printers’, ‘Old’, ‘Computers’

Hewlett-Packard has a very staid, established image. When asked what one word comes to mind when thinking about HP, two of the three most mentioned terms were product categories: printers (mentioned by 91 respondents) and computers (mentioned by 40); the sixth most mentioned term was another category, laptops.

In a national survey by Researchscape, conducted September 8 to 30, 2012, with 1,030 U.S. adults, 35% used a positive term to describe HP, 35% a negative term and 30% a neutral term. Women had a more positive view of HP than men: 43% used a positive term to describe the company, compared to only 29% of men.

On the plus side of the ledger was a reputation for dependability: 34 respondents used the term reliable, 26 quality, 19 decent, 19 okay and 10 dependable. This dependability was also seen as stodginess by some, with 58 calling the company old, 17 outdated, 9 standard, 8 boring, 8 dated and 5 solid. Common negative terms were bad, 18; mediocre, 16; crap, 12; unreliable, 11; poor, 8; and 7 each for broken and junk.

Count	Term	Sentiment
91	Printers	0
58	Old	-1
40	Computers	0
34	Reliable	1
26	Quality	1
19	Decent	1
19	Laptops	0
19	Okay	0
18	Bad	-1
18	Good	1
17	Cheap	0
17	Outdated	-1
16	Mediocre	-1
12	Average	0
12	Crap	-1
11	Unreliable	-1
10	Dependable	1
9	Nice	1
9	Standard	0
8	Boring	-1
8	Dated	-1
8	Innovative	1
8	Poor	-1
7	Broken	-1
7	Business	1
7	Dying	-1
7	Great	1
7	Junk	-1
7	Leader	1
7	PC	0
6	Behind	-1
6	Desktops	0

Only 4 respondents out of 1,030 (0.4%) identified Hewlett-Packard as one of the two companies they most admired.

ACSI LLC interviews 250 HP customers every year about their satisfaction with HP personal computers. For the past four years satisfaction has increased each year, rising to 79 out of 100, the highest mark achieved for the company since 1995. This is still below the industry average of 80 and far behind the industry leader, Apple.