How did we arrive at the universal conclusion that families wish to remember their loved ones by keeping their cremated remains in a rectangular box or a Grecian-inspired vase? I mean, from the standpoint it needs to be a geometry that can hold volume, I get it. But why only a box and a vase? Why not a pyramid or a dodecagon? (That’s a 12-sided shape for those of you keeping score at home.)
Having just returned from the ICCFA show in San Antonio, I have an observation to relay. The funeral service industry should expect and demand more from manufacturers advertising a “custom” product. They should demand more because customers are expecting more.
I walked the floor at the convention and, as you might imagine, there was no shortage of urn manufacturers. They were everywhere. And to a man and woman, everyone was calling their product “custom”. Yet virtually all of them were some iteration of a vase or a box. Sure you can get an urn in blue or green. Or you can get it with a floral pattern or a baseball on it. But is that really the limit of custom?
Put yourself in the shoes of a family who is going through the experience of agreeing on a meaningful resting place for their deceased beloved. How do these questions sound? Did the deceased like blue or green better? What was their favorite floral pattern? Script font or san seriph?
What if the questions sounded more like this: What was the most important and meaningful representation of this person’s life? What were his or her hobbies, passions and pursuits? How would they like to be remembered and how would we like to remember them?
What if, instead of trying to find the closest option from a group of imperfect choices, you could create the perfect one?
That sounds like a much better option to me.
-Pete SaariFounder and CEO, Foreverence
