Non Exec Chairman David Henry who said “It’s very, very important to engage the business with potential customers.” Fast forward to October 2013 and the results of a new £1 million TV campaign are running again. Created by top agency Leo Burnett and a follow on from the 2009 TV campaign which made the Co-op the fi rst company to tackle funeral advertising, the adverts are stylish but fairly blunt messages aimed at showing customers of every age that the Co-op should be the fi rst choice when thinking about funerals… be it their own or someone else’s. And given the Co-op apparently
W
hat we’re doing here as a marketing team is to make people
aware that we here and we can off er a fantastic service in terms of bereaved families coming to us. We are the very best funeral director in the UK and we’re very proud to shout about it.” So said Lorinda Robinson, Head of Marketing at the Co- operative Funeralcare division in a corporate video made back in 2010. A view echoed by then
organise 1 in 4 of all funerals in the UK and have more branches than any other chain, it’s an advertising message that is clearly working. In fact looking at another of their videos; this time a vox pop of consumer reaction to the fact they had a funeral display – with all the trimmings – at a local County show and it seems that not only are they getting the business but consumers actually like the fact that a taboo subject is being made more public. One forty-something mother
said it was good to talk about it whilst a man in his sixties felt that given there was a certain
inevitability about a funeral, be it your own or someone else’s, why not have a chance to see it all in advance and look at all the options. So why is there so much resistance from fl orists to promote the way they can help at a funeral? Because whilst the Co-op are busy promoting them at a fairly high level - and yes they do have a Co-op funeral hot air balloon - and supermarket Morrisons reckon it’s worth launching a funeral range, it seems a lot of fl orists are far more reserved. Which may be neither good, nor necessary. Because if big name players
think it’s OK to break down the barriers and be pretty darned open about funerals does it not beg the question as to whether fl orists shouldn’t be promoting their skills and services a little more loudly? After all, we’re bombarded with ads and marketing every day that are often far more tasteless than a window display of beautiful funeral fl oristry. According to the bulk of the
reaction on both Facebook and the two forums we belong to (fl
oristsnews.co.uk and fl oristlife.
co.uk) it seems a lot of you think we’re totally wrong. The post from
F&wb Autumn/Winter 2013
>> 61
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84