Irish Wakes & McCrematoriums | 4M #135 by Return Home

Welcome to the hundred-and-thirty-fifth edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #135, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!

Today’s 4M is sponsored by Return Home, an incredibly cool and kind company committed to sharing all things Terramation with Connecting Directors readers. 

Micah Answers YOUR First Question … and It’s Unfiltered

Last week, Micah Truman, CEO of Return Home, challenged Connecting Directors readers to send him your questions about Terramation, or natural organic reduction, and in typical Connecting Directors reader fashion, you did not disappoint!

With no further ado, here’s Micah with the answer to our first reader question: Does your facility smell?

Since no one has invented a sniffable video (yet) we’ll have to take Micah’s word for it. Or … will we? Micah and the Return Homies always welcome the opportunity to welcome you to their Auburn, Washington facility to see (well, to smell) for yourself. Consider this your open invitation to tour Return Home anytime.

Today’s video offered a plethora of fun facts that are sure to impress your friends when you randomly drop them into your next conversation over coffee or cocktails. You now know: 

• What brew pubs and the Return Home facility have in common,
• What IAMS stands for (hint: it’s not dog food), and, of course,
• Why no one can confuse Micah with the Statue of Liberty.

OK, Connecting Directors readers … What’s the next question you want Micah to answer about Terramation, Return Home, or brew pubs? Come on. Ask away!

Click the button below to submit your anonymous question (or questions), or send your questions directly to info@returnhome.com!

New HGTV series?

It’s no surprise that many metropolitan areas are running out of spaces to bury the dead. Despite its high cremation rates, Vancouver, British Columbia, is no exception. As with any other commodity, high demand and limited supply leads to rising prices. Recently, spots in Vancouver cemeteries have been advertised on Craigslist for anywhere from $5,000 to $54,000. But that’s not the most interesting aspect of the conundrum. It seems a few entrepreneurial folks have started “flipping” plots — buying them from owners looking for quick cash and then reselling them for a profit. Do you think they make any improvements first, like they do on all those flipping shows? Maybe fluff the ground cover, or add some colorful location markers? 

Exit stage left

What better place to stage a play about a wake than a funeral home? Last month, Harper’s Community Funeral Home in New Haven, Indiana offered up its facility for performances of Flanagan’s Wake, an improv show described as a “hilarious interactive Irish wake.” Not only did Harper’s prove to the community that funeral homes don’t have to be intimidating, scary, or super-serious places; they also raised over $3,000 for a local veterans organization. Great job, Harper’s!

Tasteless?

Come on, McDonalds … Really? Someone within the international fast food organization is in t-r-o-u-b-l-e for the poorly-planned placement of an ad for its McCrispy chicken sandwich: right next to a sign pointing to a local crematorium. McDonald’s has agreed to remove the ad, which is posted in a bus stop structure in Cornwall, England, just across the street from a crematorium. But it’s not the first time they’ve made such a misstep. In 2019, they had to apologize for their Halloween-themed “Sundae Bloody Sundae” after backlash from those who thought it was an “insensitive reference” to the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre of unarmed civilians in Northern Ireland. Geez, guys. Think.

Bare-ing it all

In another example of not thinking things through first, Bare, an Australian deathcare startup hoping to improve the funeral industry, is being roasted for its new ad campaign that advertising site Campaign Brief says “rejects well-worn funeral ad clichés in favour of authenticity and transparency.” In a video, the two young founders sit on a sofa in a warehouse setting and talk about how successful they’ve been, despite all the people who doubted them. Another print ad brags that “We’re still here” even though “You said Australia would never trust us.” These are some pretty bold statements, and the folks in the comments were having none of it. Here are a few:

• “Did these guys just PR an entire “I told you so” campaign? On what planet does it makes sense to develop a campaign about yourself, as founders, instead of telling us the story of what your business actually does. Why does the industry not welcome you? What do you do better?”
• “That this is a campaign that went through rounds of approval. No way.”
• “Way to make it all about yourselves.”