• Industry jargon is turning buyers off print – Canon dictionary offers easy-to-use solution

• Industry is taking steps to address disparity, but still more action is required

• The Canon Buzzword Buster helps make the print industry more accessible to buyers

drupa 2008, DÜSSELDORF, May 30, 2008 – Canon Europe, world leader in digital imaging technology, today launched the Canon Buzzword Buster at drupa 2008 as a booklet of definitions to demystify the jargon that surrounds the industry.

The booklet comes after a pan-European study by Canon found almost nine-out- of-ten (86%) print buyers across Europe admit to being perplexed by some everyday industry terms. Another four-in-ten (43%) respondents’ blame jargon for bad print jobs, making clear communication a top priority for the print industry.

Mark Lawn, European Marketing Manager, Professional Solutions, Canon Europe said: “As part of our research last year, we discovered that a large proportion of the industry did not understand the term Web-to-Print. This prompted out new research into the language of print.

“As an industry we need to work harder at marketing and promoting our services and the first step towards that it by making it easy for buyers to understand what they are getting.  Terms like ‘pre-press’ and ‘make-ready’ may be obvious to us, but mean nothing to the customer. Our Canon Essential Business Builder Program already uses simple terminology to show our printers how to take new ideas, services and initiatives to customers.”

Visitors to drupa 2008 can pick up a copy of the booklet from the Canon. The Buzzword Buster will also be available on Canon’s website at www.canon-europe.com/buzzwordbuster as a quick resource to help print buyers understand the industry jargon.

The Canon commissioned study, carried out by ICM Research in February 2008, questioned 2,068 business people across Europe and highlighted that more than half of respondents (58%) found print terminology frustrating - the number increasing to 68% in France.

This was compounded by the fact that as many as 60% of people questioned in the UK, Finland and Norway were irritated by the use of technical terms. Of all the countries surveyed Italy was the most confident when it came to understanding print, but only one-in-five buyers (19%) admitted they “completely understood” the terminology.

As a result of the language barrier between the printer and buyer, 43% of respondents had experienced print jobs that did not meet their requirements. Part of the reason for this is because 30% of Europeans questioned had put off calls to printers at least once due to frustration with the jargon they use. This rose to 53% in France. Not only that, but almost one-in-five of those questioned shied away from asking for explanations when they didn’t understand the terminology.

One-third of purchasers (34%) felt printers were good at explaining what specific print terms meant when asked to spell out the meanings, while only 10% failed to clarify the industry terms clearly.  Three-out-of-four respondents agreed that easier to understand print terms would make them feel more valued as customers. With better understanding, print buyers felt they would feel more confident and valued and less frustrated.

Lawn said: “This survey quite clearly demonstrates that printers who use easy-to-understand terms are more highly regarded and valued by their customers. The Canon Buzzword Buster is an additional tool for Print Professionals as well as print buyers to communicate more effectively.”

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