Pigeons, Mustaches, and Good News! | FFFW #26

I WISH IT WERE THURSDAY

That’s right; you know how much I adore Fridays. I believe that even if you love your job, or even if it’s not the beginning of time-off for you, Fridays are still awesome. That being said, I also LOVE puns, and yesterday was the 4th, March 4th. Get it? “Wow, this winter weather has been rough; it’s time for spring to… MARCH FOURTH!” Or “This is my least favorite day of the year. I hate when I get told what to do!” See? I could’ve written this whole section about how great a day for puns today is – if today were yesterday. Instead I’m writing about how great a day for puns today could have been, if today were yesterday. That being said, who cares? So what, it’s not the 4th, it’s not Thursday! It’s the best day of the week, and this FFFW will have some games, takes, and GIFs to get you going for the weekend!

GAME TIME!

How many funeral homes does Alaska have?

SHOULD YOUR FUNERAL HOME BE ON TIKTOK?

TikTok almost isn’t new anymore. It started getting mainstream in 2019 and built a massive user base during the pandemic. So with so many people being on a platform, shouldn’t you be there too?

Well, no… but yes. See, your demographic isn’t actively using TikTok enough to justify a large budget and time commitment to it. There’s also no way to target your content specifically to your community. So for the time being, you shouldn’t stress too much over this platform. That being said, adapting the trends to a funeral home would be amazing to see, and we here at the FFFW VERY MUCH support it. So, though you don’t HAVE to and it might not be SUPER beneficial, you should start making some Toks.

So what does work? Still, the best platform for reaching people 55 and up (your target demographic) is Facebook. And nobody manages funeral homes on Facebook as well as DISRUPT Media. If you’re interested in seeing high ROI through social media then you should see what all DM has to offer!

Click here to learn more!

WANT AN AD IN FFFW LIKE THIS? JUST SHOOT RYAN AN EMAIL AT RYAN@DISRUPTMEDIA.CO WE’LL WRITE UP AN ARTICLE AND MAKE A CUSTOM GIF!

TWO THINGS GOT ME THINKING THIS WEEK

This week I heard about two pieces of technology that I think could be big developments for us in the death-care space.

I got a Slack the other day from a co-worker; he was linking me to an announcement video from Microsoft. It was for a new technology they’re developing called “Microsoft Mesh.” You can read all about it here, but basically it’s VR goggles you put on that allows you to interact with others and with digital items. For example, an engineering team could be working fully remote, but with Mesh they could all appear to be in the same room and would be able to examine 3-D models. Basically, if you’ve ever seen the Iron Man movies, it looks somewhat like the tech Tony Stark uses to look at potential designs with Jarvis.

“So, what does that have to do with the funeral profession?” – Someone

Fantastic question. The truth is, it probably won’t impact you super soon; but, when it does, it could be awesome. Imagine pre-planning with a family while you’re in the office and they’re in the comfort of their own home, yet through this technology – you all appear to be in the same place. Then, while talking to their “holograms” you can bring up 3-D models of caskets and urns, give a tour of your facility, and even show what the funeral set-up will look like once the day arrives. You know how on HGTV they have the animations that show what the new kitchen could look like? Well, you could potentially bring your families into that world, and let them make adjustments to the arrangement and set-up of their funerals. Seems pretty dope to me.

Now another thing. I check the news and Reddit everyday, and on one of my scrolls I saw this video of Billy the Kid, it looked intriguing so I read up on it. Now, of course there are no actual videos of Billy the Kid. In fact, there’s only one unrefuted photo of the guy. However, through the power of MyHeritage and Deep Nostalgia, that one picture of Billy the Kid was brought to life and showed what subtle movements and facial expressions he may have had. Then upon further research, I found out that this technology is free. So, I tried it out.

See, all the videos of famous historical figures are cool and all, but because we don’t know what they actually looked like when their faces were moving, we have no clue as to how good this tech is. Now, I know what I look like in videos and on zoom calls and what-not, so I figured that I would be a good test subject.

So, here’s the photo I submitted. NOTE: I do NOT have a mustache. The facial hair is a beta Zoom feature, but I wanted to protect my identity.

And here’s the video I got back:

I think it did a pretty fantastic job. I’ll honestly give it a 7/10. Although it’s not perfect, it does capture a couple of my expressions, and it doesn’t look scary (which can happen with some CG movements).

So, then I decided to do something. See, I have a great grandfather that I never got the chance to meet. So, I uploaded a photo my family has of him. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I never met this great grandfather, but I can now picture him a little better, and my family’s stories about him feel a little more real. I’m not going to share it here, because really it’s just for me and my family, but after experiencing his animation, I’m a big believer in this product/idea. In this space, we often talk about memorialization, and I believe this is just another tool to help with that.

COMIC OF THE WEEK

Your doves are pigeons.

YOU OTTER BE PROUD

Let’s be honest, our profession gets a lot of negative press, so we’ve searched the internet to find stories of funeral things getting respect and doing great things!