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Charles 16 Comments
Charles

Coop ad

 

How good to see three local family undertakers in Devon club together to advertise themselves. Really nice, professional piece of work — proper job as they say down there. (Click it to make it bigger.) 

(First one of you wins a cigar)

16 Comments

  1. Charles

    I love the ambiguity – it doesn’t say they actually did this. Example: Simon was a keen Bob Marley fan. Seeing him resurrected and playing on stage at his funeral would have made him smile. Sweet!

    1. Charles

      Ah, I’ve got it, Simon. Would have. It doesn’t say they did.

      I’m not entirely sure that an undertaker can claim recognition for an initiative which came, presumably, from the 50 putative cyclists. Unless they were rented, of course.

  2. Charles

    This comes from the Totnes Times, sister paper to the free Totnes News.

    Totnes News advertises weekly:
    “Perring Funeral Services – Ivybridge: 01752 892557.
    It also advertises:
    “The co-operative funeralcare – Ivybridge – 01752 690890”.

    It makes no reference to the fact that they are the same branch of the same national chain of funeral directors.

    Why two separate adverts on the same page with different names and different phone numbers?

    And now a similar trick in Totnes Times, this time with no reference to the identity between Perrings, Perrings, Gill & Eales or Halletts and the national chain that runs them all, co-operative funeralcare.

    It’s one thing to refrain from declaring; it’s another to dissemble. Are you being open, co-op?

    1. Charles

      Jonathan – this goes on everywhere in England where F’care either trade as ‘mylocalf’d’ or as F’care. Separate ad’s in the relevant local newspapers and exactly the same issues can be seen in their Yellow Pages listings too. It’s a policy of saturation and also “being very economical” regarding ownership, regards, andrew

  3. Charles

    I’d like to offer a different angle on this blog post:

    The Good Funeral Guide ranks very highly on Google, because it’s a blog that’s regularly updated and attracts lots of comments. Each time anything happens on the blog, Google sees it as something new. Google likes what it sees and pushes the blog further up the rankings.

    Secondly, Google loves high quality links from one website to another. Those of us who have seen the benefit of links like this http://www.stneotsfuneraldirectors.co.uk in increasing our own web rankings will testify to that. One of the commentators on this post has dutifully provided a lovely link to a website that is optimised very well (and paid for to feature in the search) for ‘funeral director Totnes’ – Google adores that too.

    Thirdly, although the regular readership of this blog knows that this post is sarcastic, Joe Public doesn’t.

    Put these together and what do you have? JP is looking for a funeral director in Totnes. S/He googles ‘funeral director Totnes’ and I wouldn’t mind betting that before very long this blog post will be on page 1. JP clicks the link, sees “How good to see 3 local family undertakers…” and thinks “they sound good – and they’re mentioned on the Good Funeral Guide. I think I’ll use them.”

    A prime example of the power of Google is happening in St Neots right now. Two weeks ago a funeral director in the town was given a suspended jail sentence for voyeurism. It hit the local press. Local newspapers do very well on Google, for the same reason as the GFG – they are updated constantly and have good quality links on them. Try Googling ‘funeral director st neots’ now, and ‘St Neots funeral director spied on women on toilet’ ranks very highly. In the last week it’s climbed from page 2, through no. 10 on page 1, and is currently no. 4 on page 1. Not that I’m complaining, of course…

    Food for thought?

  4. Charles

    well…………

    this, as I see it, is all part of Funeralcare’s extended marketing campaign, where their shops/branches (call them what you like) which still continue to trade under their previous names, individually appear online under:-

    mylocalfuneraldirector.co.uk

    and not as part of the separate F’care site for each of the designated branches

    a reference to the Co-op Group does appear on each site

    what amuses me is that each of these ‘old businesses’ all refer to:

    Fairways Partnership Limited

    Co-op did of course buy out the remainder of their share in Fairways a few years back and the then assets of Fairways became part of the Co-op. As it happens neither Perring’s nor one of a number of such other names were part of the old Fairways. Perring’s were owned by Plymouth & South Devon Co-op

    This is nothing other than F’care having an internet profile for these old family names, under a different hat, rather than have a full blown direct reference to the Co-op

    and finally, it’s about time that F’care took some remedial action regarding:-

    ‘Adela Funeral Homes’, Eastbourne

    this is a one shop branch name and not one of a number, in other words, it’s inaccurate

    regards

    andrew

  5. Charles

    ‘Pile ’em high, sell ’em er, not very cheaply.

    If this is such a good idea, why are those Tesco metro and Sainsbury local stores not also trading under old familiar grocers names? If I worked there, I might put this suggestion in my staff room suggestion box and claim my reward.

  6. Charles

    I am informed by the NAFD that rule 1.4: of the NAFD Code of Practice says:

    Members of Category A Membership shall disclose ultimate ownership of their funeral business on premises, including branch offices, which is in a visible position to the public and on letterheads and publicity material.

    ….. which clearly implies advertisments, I would think…

    1. Charles

      exactly Nick. The office of ‘Adela Funeral Homes’ (sic) when last seen had no reference to the ultimate ownership in it’s shop window, instead you had to look above the entrance door for a reference to the registered address of the owner. regards, andrew

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