Baby boomers will not go quietly!

According to most recent Australian funeral industry research consumers are seeking greater involvement in funerals - wanting the opportunity to express themselves and be involved in the planning and service.

Coupled with the additional trend - people are clearly responding to environmental issues in all industries, including the funeral industry.

According to a recent study by the National Funeral Directors Association:

• a mere 13 per cent of adults want a very traditional funeral service;
• of those interested in having a funeral of some type, 68 per cent would like to customise the event; and
• nearly 75 per cent prefer to prearrange their own service.

Baby boomers have never followed tradition, and planning their funerals is no exception: they have always wanted to do things their way. We now employ wedding planners to organise our wedding, travel consultants for our holidays, business coaches for help with our business, personal trainers to help us keep fit.

Baby boomers are not tied to tradition. They are the ones who really started rewriting their wedding vows, rewrote their birthing ceremonies: rewriting and challenging the accepted norms.

Funeral directors across Australia, and globally, would confirm this generation has altered the way they are planning funerals and this, in turn, will have a large impact on the death care business. Just as they lived their lives somewhat off the beaten path, boomers are also not going to be happy with "cookie cutter" funerals.

It’s all about me

Baby boomers want customised funeral arrangements with personalised touches. You may enter the funeral home to the tune of rock music and a display of memorabilia of the person's life. The coffin will often be a custom design - eco is the new emerging product. According to industry researchers … baby boomers want to go out having as much fun as they had when they were here.

It is highly unlikely that the boomers will go quietly - or conventionally - when their time comes. Progressive funeral directors have had to change from a “here's what we have” mentality to a “what would you like?” mentality.

In my past six years of research and the establishment of LifeArt Australia I have spoke with hundreds of funeral directors and held forums and interviews with all age groups. Funeral directors all tell me how much families have changed over the years.

Annette Lourigan, from Brisbane, has worked in the funeral industry for 10 years and in this time she's seen more people each year planning their own funerals. Annette told me:

When I started, it was very common for people to come in after a loved one died and have no idea what that person wanted. They would look to the funeral director to guide them through all the planning and provide all the suggestions. … that has really changed. People will now state or request things from the funeral arranger, have songs already selected, ask what alternatives are possible (such as a park location instead of a chapel for the service).

Like my colleagues in the industry we have done an incredible range of services - things probably never dreamt of 10 or 15 years ago. Fancy dress theme, bush music and dance, services in the farm barn, just really to many to tell. I have used coffins with designs created by a collage of family photos, rural scene with Stockman, photos of people’s boats, dogs, favourite place, and now so many people painting and signing the coffin.

I also believe pre planning or informing family/partners about their funeral plans will certainly grow. It is not a taboo subject any longer, with the majority agreeing some planning needs to be done. A lot of people today have gone through the process of their parents dying with no ideas or plans of what to do or what could be best for their parents, and they don't want that to happen to their kids.

Personalisation: the hottest trend in the funeral industry

George Dickinson, a Professor of Death and Dying, researched the phenomenon of baby boomers and personalised death trends. He said it is yet another way for the "me generation" to demonstrate their individuality and reject the rigid institutions of their parents' time:

It is part of the individualism of our age and the logic of absorbing consumerist values.

There is so much choice in every other aspect of our lives that it almost seems an outrage not to have choice in death. The trend towards personalising funerals is driven by our “culture of choice”.

This trend toward personalisation could well mark the beginning of a new phase in bereavement.

In recent years sales tools, to create personalisation features, have exploded in the funeral industry. From humble beginnings of picture boards and memory tables, personalisation has gone high tech to video tributes, online memorials and videotaped funerals.

MKJ (leading researcher in the funeral industry for the past 20 years) conducted focus groups and found a large majority of the respondents had attended funerals that diminished the religious influences, and elevated personalisation. The consensus from the focus groups was that the personalised funerals were more interesting and meaningful than traditional funerals they had attended.

Other research studies undertaken by MKJ for the purpose of identifying which services the consumer perceives of greatest value showed that, from a list including personalised funerals, online obituaries, online prearrangement and online purchase of merchandise, personalisation was selected as the most important in every study.

Changing attitudes: is the industry changing fast enough to meet consumer’s needs?

A ground breaking report, Funeral Rights, slams current funeral practices for failing the public and urges people to overcome the taboos surrounding death by speaking out about what kind of funerals they really want for themselves. The study is based on the findings of the Funeralcare Forum led by Claire Rayner OBE and established by the UK's leading funeral director, the Co-operative Group.

The report, which is backed by extensive research over a number of years, reveals that many people admit to a "secret disappointment" with the funeral service they've arranged. The overwhelming majority say they're satisfied but when questioned further, only half say it could not have been improved.

Claire Rayner said: "In a world where many other service sectors have had to adapt to meet modern needs, it is clear that funerals have some way to go in meeting society's expectations."

The report also found changing attitudes: 80 per cent want personal touches for their own funeral and 47 per cent wished they’d known what the deceased really wanted for their funeral. The British are not alone in this debate. My research from other countries such as USA, Japan, Germany and Australia confirms these trends.

Will Australia follow the UK lead in eco funerals?

Just as awareness of environmental issues is on the rise in day-to-day life, environmental concerns are now also a consideration in death. MINTEL's exclusive consumer research shows that 63 per cent of Brits like the idea of an eco-coffin, while about the same number (64 per cent) like the idea of a “green” funeral.

The UK “green movement” has lead to rapid growth in the number of natural burial sites. In 1993, there was only one ground, now there are more than 220 sites operating, with more planned to open in the future. In 1993 only a handful of crematoria and cemeteries would accept cardboard coffins, but now almost every crematorium accepts them.

Australia is not as advanced as the UK, but is taking strides in that direction. Australia now has four sites, one each for New South Wales Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The next natural burial site will open in South Australia this year. Byron Bay celebrant, Zenith Virago, from the Natural Death Centre, has been organising natural burials for people on their own land for 15 years.

Darryl Thomas, president of the Australasian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association, stated that he expected more sites. "It's taken off overseas and it's gaining legs over here. It's a sign of the times as people become more concerned about the environment."

Like in the UK, when LifeArt launched an environmental coffin in 2004 many crematoriums and cemeteries were wary of the product, and now almost every cemetery and crematorium accepts the coffins.

Future and growth of environmental coffins

At present, world-wide research indicates that 89 per cent of coffins sold are made from Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). So let’s compare the environmental facts of eco-coffins v MFD coffin. Independent cremation tests on the eco-coffin has concluded that a cardboard coffin produces up to 60 per cent less greenhouse emissions than regular coffins made from MDF or medium density fibreboard.

The tests also concluded that producing an MDF coffin releases the equivalent of about 33kg of CO2 into the atmosphere, compared to 13kg of CO2 to produce an eco-coffin.

In an industry that’s seen minimal changes over the years, cardboard coffins enable the funeral industry to dramatically reduce its impact on the environment With about 70 per cent of all funerals being cremations in our capital cities, it’s important that people have the option of reducing their own or their loved ones carbon emissions.

Like so many funeral directors and people involved in the death industry we all have stories that touched us because we were able to do something so very special, memorable and helpful for a family.

I believe the new trends for the industry can be summed up in this story.

Final lap of honour

When Irene and her husband Mark knew he would soon lose his battle with cancer she asked her friend to help her plan something very special for the farewell event.

Determined to help her dearest friend, Yoka searched the internet and found LifeArt coffins. She called LifeArt to see what was possible, explaining Mark was a mad keen Holden Racing Team fan his entire life. Yoka wondered if it was possible to create a coffin in the Holden team colours.

We contacted Holden Australia to request the use of their Holden Racing Team logo to create this special custom design. Holden Australia was very supportive by immediately giving us permission to use their logo for Mark’s customised design.

Thanks to family, friends and an inspiring funeral arranger, Maree, Mark’s funeral was held at Eastern Creek Raceway, and centre place was his custom designed Holden Racing Team Coffin.

Maree told us:

We held the service in the pit area, conducted by a minister associated with Holden racing team.

Even though the skies opened up on the day of the service, like true fans, 350 people stood in the rain and cheered their friend as his funeral car did final laps around the race track. The chequered flag waved by his son, giving him a respectful, loving and personal goodbye.