As Textile Services, TRSA’s monthly magazine for laundry operators and suppliers, marks its 107th year of publication this September, our latest AdStudy® survey confirms that the publication continues to provide value to laundry operators and supplier partners with information on innovations and trends that can help them grow their businesses.

Textile Services is very useful,” wrote one respondent in a verbatim section of the survey of laundry operators conducted by Signet Research Inc, Englewood, NJ. “It keeps me up to date with all the new technologies, new products and the best solutions that can assist a company for cost saving.”

The survey of July’s issue drew a total of 126 respondents. Each respondent was identified in terms of their job title and for the sector of the linen, uniform and facility services business in which they work. Similar to previous AdStudy surveys, the respondents represented a broad sweep of company leaders. Their titles ranged from owner/president/CEO/COO (19%) to vice president/general manager (20%) to plant manager/production manager/director of operations (21%), among others.

The survey respondents work in all industry segments, including industrial (30%), healthcare (31%) and food and beverage (F&B) 27%.

As for buying power, 87% of the respondents indicated that they are involved in initiating, recommending, specifying, approving or purchasing a wide range of products. These include laundry processing equipment (49%), linens/textiles (58%) and uniforms/apparel (49%). Seventy-eight percent of the respondents said they’ve taken a range of actions for their businesses based on what they’ve seen and read in Textile Services. Examples include “bought products or services that were advertised” (32%); “visited an advertiser’s website” (41%); and “discussed an article with a colleague” (45%).

The survey asked respondents how they felt about the ads in the magazine, as opposed to editorial content. The respondents indicated that ads have a powerful impact. In fact, 51% agreed with the statement that they read the magazine as much for the advertising as they do the articles. Another 63% agreed that advertising is an important part of the magazine, and 42% agreed with the statement that companies that advertise build trust and are seen as a reliable source.

The thrust of the survey centered on having respondents review and comment on the 28 display ads that appeared in in July’s issue. A split-sampling technique was used to avoid respondent fatigue, while ensuring that at least 100 respondents commented on each ad. In evaluating the ads, the survey asked respondents, “do you remember seeing the ad and do you recall reading the ad?” Those respondents who said they remembered both seeing and reading the ads were scored as part of the AdStudy® Score. Based on this metric, the top-scoring ads for July’s issue included:

  • Pellerin Milnor Corp.: 142
  • Kannegiesser ETECH: 141
  • Gurtler Industries Inc.: 138
  • Lavatec Laundry Technology Inc.: 137
  • Tingue: 137

The survey also asked respondents if they’d seen a sales rep in the past six months from the company represented in each ad.

In addition to demonstrating the level of awareness of supplier-partner companies among buyers and prospects, a key benefit of the study for advertisers is the verbatim section. There, each respondent was asked to share their opinions about the advertiser and the products advertised, as well as the message that they believe the ad was trying to convey. Each advertiser received a page to 1.5 pages of typed comments. These remarks included positive or critical comments about the company that placed the ad. Most respondents offered constructive comments on the quality and persuasiveness of the ad itself.

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