WHEN IT COMES to choosing caskets, funeral directors tend to favor those displaying a golf motif. This somber, traditional bunch, not given to bright colors and sudden changes, probably doesn’t quite know what to make of most of White Light Art Caskets’ decorated metal caskets. Think of a movie promo that surrounds the surface of a city bus or a company ad that blankets the side of an 18-wheeler, and you’ll get the picture.
Although funeral directors generally aren’t taken with the model named “The Race Is Over,” with its checkered flag fading into a grandstand of cheering fans, or “Return to Sender,” with its faux brown-paper wrapping and the red postal stamp, they’re most likely to display “Fairway to Heaven” – if they display anything at all from the two-year-old company – because they can relate.
“A lot of funeral directors play golf,” says Kit Vinson, the Dallas-based company’s national sales manager. “They order what they like.”
“Once they put it on their display floor and sell it, they will experience the `White Light experience’ – an elevated level of customer satisfaction like they’ve never seen before,” declares Vinson. “We have the only caskets that can talk – they speak volumes about the person’s life.”
A glossy postcard mailing in May, featuring full-color shots of selected caskets, went to some 50% of the funeral directors in the United States and pulled a 2% response. But the product shows more promise as a consumer item, says Vinson, because aging baby boomers like to compare prices and take charge of their purchases – not take a middleman’s word for it.
He began selling direct to consumers earlier this year. Visitors to the Web site (www.artcaskets.com) can view the 30 designs available and call the toll-free number (877-Artcasket) to order.
Plus, Vinson will push two affinity lines this year – veterans and college alumni. He is placing space ads in veterans’ publications and will do a mailing to graduates of certain colleges.
He expects a big response and has a right to. In 1999, White Light Art Caskets generated $1 million in sales. This year, the company made almost that much by the end of the first quarter.
The product has its critics, of course.
“Some people have called our stuff tacky,” remarks Vinson. “They generally say that when they see the `Return to Sender.’ A lot of people are blessed with a sense of humor and their families want to honor that.”
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