I had the opportunity to do a Skype call last week with Erin Erceg and the innovative conversation blew me away.
I’ve had conversations like this before but never with a funeral director. Remember those edgy Just Cremation ads, that was her. And you won’t believe the uproar the ads have created in her community.
We are planning to do a video interview with Erin about these ads and the response they received but for now please read the article below about the innovative funeral services her family’s funeral home offers.
Giving Funerals a Unique Slant
Article from: http://au.news.yahoo.com/
Erin Erceg has been surrounded by death and grieving families for most of her life but the 29-year-old funeral director is quick to dispel the notion that her industry is depressing.
Instead, she believes the often misunderstood profession is an extremely rewarding one.
“The reward you get from being able to help a family at such a difficult time is amazing,” she said. “We are storytellers.
“There is a huge amount of passion, humour and support in the industry.”
When she was six, her father Steve started the funeral company Seasons Funerals and by 20, she was working as a mortician.
Ms Erceg is a company director and on a mission to shake up the funeral industry.
“Floating funerals” down the Swan River and funeral photography are among the services offered, while an Ophelia- inspired billboard featuring Ms Erceg lying on a bed of flowers is capturing attention outside the business’ Balcatta parlour.
Ms Erceg is the first to admit she is not a stereotypical funeral director.
“I believe in innovation,” she said. “There is a lot of room for innovation in our industry and I’m determined to uncover every little bit.
“I see an opportunity for us to break tradition and while that’s not what everybody wants, people don’t always want a cookie-cutter format.”
Funerals she has arranged include a service held at a football club, where guests wore football scarves and the hearse did a lap around the oval before driving through the goals to the sound of the ground’s sirens.
A coffin adorned with a light sabre, accompanied by Star Wars theme music and a plane flying a “May The Force Be With You” banner, was another special moment.
Ms Erceg said there was a trend towards more original funerals.
“It can be bold or simple, as long as it reflects the character,” she said.
Some services, especially children’s funerals, were extremely difficult and Ms Erceg said she found it hard not to get emotionally affected.
“To get through it, you have to remind yourself that you haven’t lost anyone – that although you feel compassion and empathy for the families of the deceased, the grief isn’t yours,” she said.
The company tried a “floating funeral” along the Swan River last year and in what is believed to be an Australian first, families can hold a funeral service or wake aboard the Crystal Swan.
[via: http://au.news.yahoo.com/ ]
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This new partnership will forge the development of the new “Socially Acceptable™” social media program designed to set a new and higher online standard for the funeral profession. The program will be available exclusively through FrontRunner Professional to their clients.
DISRUPT Media is a full service social media agency for social strategy and complete social media management for businesses. They help funeral professionals, worldwide; interact with today’s consumers by truly embracing the Internet and engaging in conversations about their funeral business online.
For more information on FrontRunner Professional and DISRUPT Media contact FrontRunner at 1-866-748-3625 or online atwww.FrontRunnerPro.com/SociallyAcceptable or email Ryan Thogmartin at ryan@disruptmedia.co
