Alan Creedy and Joe Weigel Team Up To Launch Turnkey Tribute Program Alan Creedy remembers when the town funeral director would get up early Sunday morning and go to three or four different church services so that the members of each congregation considered him or her one of their own. Those days are largely over and most funeral directors have squandered the chance to replace that activism with something similar that puts them and their funeral home front and center, he says. McAlister-Smith Buys Avinger Funeral Home Mark Smith, president and owner of McAlister-Smith Funeral & Cremation, recently made a big move: He bought Avinger Funeral Home in Holly Hill, South Carolina. Mark Smith Smith, a former Cremation Association of North America president who is active in local politics, is also the owner of Palmetto Cremation Society and Faithful Forever Pet Cremation. Getting that personal touch back is one of the reasons why Creedy, a consultant who helps funeral homes, teamed up with Joe Weigel, owner at Weigel Strategic Marketing, to launch a turnkey tribute program that seeks to help funeral homes and cemeteries become the place to go for national and international commemorative events. We ve heard for years and years that funerals are going out of favor and that no one wants to go to a funeral, Creedy says. And yet, when we have a major event, there is a human need to collect in the Alan Creedy, at top, has teamed up with longtime associate Joe Weigel, at bottom, to launch a turnkey tribute program. Their first effort to honor the Rev. Billy Graham enjoyed success, the two men report. The Avinger family approached Smith to see if he wanted to buy the funeral home after Ernest W. Ward Avinger, the firm s president and owner, suffered a disabling stroke, according to the Moultrie News. We are truly honored the Avinger family selected us to continue their longstanding family legacy and service to the Holly Hill community, Smith told the newspaper. The business name will remain the same, the Avinger family members and staff will continue on for as long as they desire, Greg Robertson, licensed funeral director and embalmer, will be working alongside Buddy Avinger, and we plan to offer all of our unique service options at our newest Holly Hill location.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Thomas A. Parmalee Phone: 732-746-0201 tparmalee@katesboylston.com www.linkedin.com/in/thomasparmalee MANAGING EDITOR Patti Martin Bartsche Phone: 732-746-0205 pbartsche@katesboylston.com www.linkedin.com/in/pattimartinbartsche ASSOCIATE EDITOR Steve Cronin Phone: 732-746-0218 scronin@katesboylston.com www.linkedin.com/in/steve-cronin-7119751b CUSTOMER SERVICE 800-829-9145 P.O. BOX 433028 PALM COAST, FL 32143-9576 funeralserviceinsider@emailcustomerservice.com SITE LICENSES AND REPRINTS: It is against the law to forward this to another person. Contact Thomas Parmalee at 732-746-0201 or email tparmalee@katesboylston.com to ask about bulk subscription rates and reprints. COPYRIGHT WARNING: Copyright violations will be prosecuted. FSI shares 5 percent of the net proceeds of settlements or jury awards with individuals who provide essential evidence of illegal photocopying or electronic redistribution. Contact Tom Parmalee at tparmalee@katesboylston.com or call 732-746-0201 to report violations. 3349 Highway 138 Building D, Suite B Wall, NJ 07719 community, to put up shrines, to do all kinds of things. Many times, these events revolve around some kind of tragedy such as the death of Princess Diana or the 9/11 terrorist attacks but they don t have to, Creedy says. For instance, a community could just as easily get together to celebrate a historic win in the Olympics or a soldier s return home. Weigel and Creedy longtime associates both feel that the local funeral home or the cemetery is the right place to gather for such tributes. They ve been talking for some time about coming up with a way to help death-care professionals make their facilities gathering places in these instances and they saw the perfect opportunity to test out their idea with the Feb. 21 death of America s Pastor, the Rev. Billy Graham. With his death, the two men got to work, creating and shipping a custom banner and custom register book to about a dozen participating funeral homes. They also included a news release template and media guidelines so participating firms could seek media coverage. The banner was displayed outside the funeral home or cemetery and offered an opportunity for the community to come in and sign the register book, which the firms could then forward to the Graham family. Community residents were also given the chance to make a donation to one of Graham s charities. The program proved to be an innovative way to bring families into the funeral home or cemetery for something other than a service for a loved one, according to Creedy and Weigel. Danny Jefferson, manager of Pierce-Jefferson Funeral Services in Kernersville, North Carolina, says he appreciated the chance to pay tribute to Graham. Joe Weigel and Alan Creedy were very supportive in getting the materials needed to us in a very timely fashion, he says. The materials were very well done, easy to understand and very simple to offer to our community. Making the decision to sign on to the initiative was easy, Jefferson says. Any icon, regardless of race, creed or religion that endeared themselves to so many people should be recognized, Jefferson says. The book for signatures, the poster for outside presentation, and the other initiatives were done with compassion and creativity. It was very easy to get all the pieces needed for the presentation and present it to the public quickly at a very reasonable fee. The community responded in a big way, almost filling up the register book, Jefferson says. Two people left donations that the funeral home submitted to the Billy Graham Library. 2
Jefferson s local newspaper also published an article about the register book being available, and the funeral home had several positive responses via Facebook. Jefferson heard comments about the tribute when visiting local coffee shops, he says. The funeral home was also pleased to get a card of thanks from the Billy Graham Library. Our staff was very appreciative to receive the card, and I will be placing the card condolence in our local newspaper s Letter to the Editor section, Jefferson says. Tetrick Funeral & Cremation Services in Johnson City, Tennessee, also participated in the tribute to Graham. Laura Graham (no relation to Billy), a community relations/outreach specialist with the funeral home, says owner Richard Tetrick signed on to the effort. I think he did this because of Billy Graham being so loved by millions of people in the United States, Graham says. Also, Mr. Graham lived a little over an hour from here, and many people actively support his ministry. Samaritan s Purse, which is overseen by his son, Franklin, is also a very well known and supported ministry in our area. Once the funeral home had its tribute ready, staff contacted the local media. The Johnson City Press published a huge story giving the details of what we were doing and encouraging the public to stop At top: The turnkey tributes banner honoring the Rev. Billy Graham that was sent to funeral homes on display at Tetrick Funeral & Cremation Services in Johnson City, Tennessee. At bottom: A display and register book paying tribute to Graham at the funeral home. (Photos courtesy of Tetrick Funeral & Cremation Services) in and sign the book and write a memory to share with the family, Graham says. Funeral home staff appeared on television and announced the memorial service details and also encouraged the public to come in and sign the register book. We probably had several hundred people come by the funeral home to sign the book and write a memory, Graham says. We also duplicated the setup at (University Parkway Baptist Church) to allow people to go by there also and to sign it the night of the service. The funeral home and church also worked together to hold a 3
celebration of life service to honor Graham at the church with Scott Thompson, associate pastor, officiating. Paying tribute to Graham was not the first time the funeral home had done such a thing, Graham says. We are always up to public outreach, she says. When Ronald Reagan died, we put a register book out for the public to sign and sent it to the Reagan Library, and when the space shuttle Columbia blew up, we did the same thing and sent the book to NASA. We also held a motorcycle rally to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and put out a patriotic register book for the riders and anyone attending the services to sign. Ted Hopkins, general manager of Wilkerson Funeral Home in Reidsville, North Carolina, says his firm had a wonderful experience participating in the program. The community responded beautifully, he says. We did a post on our Facebook page and when I called the local paper, they jumped on it. After the article ran, a local TV Fox 8 news affiliate picked up the article and sent a reporter by. They actually ran a story that afternoon. Danny Jefferson, location manager of Pierce-Jefferson Funeral Services, will forever be grateful to the Billy Graham Library for sending his funeral home a thank you note for participating in a tribute paying homage to Graham. (Photo courtesy of Danny Jefferson) Connecting with People The premise that Creedy and Weigel feel strongly about is that people buy from the people they like. When someone comes home, and their wife says, What did you do, honey? and they say, I went to the funeral home that conversation is going to be a positive assuming you have a nice personality, I guess, Creedy says. The turnkey tributes program, Creedy says, is really intended to drive traffic into the funeral home for the specific purpose of interacting with staff. It s also a great way as several participants found out for a funeral home or cemetery to get coverage from the local media. When there is a national event that involves the death of a prominent person or anything of consequence, the media they want 4
to localize it, Weigel says. And if there is a way for the funeral director or cemetery to provide that opportunity to the media, it usually ends up in a story. The media are looking for those opportunities, and the easier we can make it for them to localize a story, the better off we are going to be. That is part and parcel of what this is all about. Creedy notes that the impetus for the turnkey tributes program actually comes from the Jim Price handbook. Price, who was the feature of a March cover story in American Funeral Director, is CEO of Midwest Memorial Group and one of the co-founders of Foundation Partners Group, where he promoted such initiatives when he was still part of the firm. I was so enthusiastic about it I never forgot it, Creedy says. Moving forward, the Turnkey Tributes program will be a subscription-based program that costs $99 per month. Once signed up, the materials banners, register books, media/press kit materials, etc. will just arrive once Alan and I activate the program, Weigel says. The plan is to pick at least four events per year to focus on with the option to add on local events, he says. The local events could be any number of things. Let s say you live in a community with a beloved member, and he dies and you don t even serve that guy, but you are going to put up a banner to commemorate this beloved member, Creedy says. Another example that might hold local or regional significance would be if the archbishop of New York or Boston died. The rest of the country wouldn t particularly care too much, but that area of the country would be absorbed by that, Creedy says. Creedy emphasizes how important it is for the materials promoting national events to just show up at the funeral home or cemetery. Most owners and managers, he says, are much too busy to do the necessary planning to respond to these events on their own in real time. The point is there is a narrow window of opportunity to get publicity and help your community respond to a major event, Creedy says. If we feel it is a newsworthy, noteworthy event that you should be active in, you are just going to get the materials. In the case of Graham, one of the things Creedy and Weigel learned is that the response was somewhat different depending on what area of the country you were in. While no funeral homes or cemeteries reported a negative response, there was definitely more of a positive response in the Southern states where religion still plays a larger role in daily life, Creedy says. He and Weigel will put those types of insights to good use moving forward, he vows. Both Creedy and Weigel see the turnkey tributes program as an important supplement to advertising. You can advertise until the cows come home and you should advertise but that personal interaction will score higher than anything else, Creedy says. To sign up for the turnkey tributes program, contact Alan Creedy at alan@alancreedy.org or by phone at 919-926-0688 or you can reach out to Joe Weigel at joseph.weigel@gmail.com or at 317-608-8914. 5