Joy where there is grief

It’s potentially the biggest disruption to New Zealand’s funeral industry in 150 years. Jude Mannion has unleashed her Fresh Funerals online start-up, and soon things will never be the same.
 
By Glenn Baker

Jude Mannion has rocked a few boats in her time. Describing herself as a failed Irish Catholic and corporate jungle escapee (think large US multinationals Elizabeth Arden and Kellogg’s), she has also successfully completed a second career launching charitable foundations The Robin Hood Foundation NZ (businesses investing in social causes) and The Mekong Club Hong Kong (targeting human slavery across six Southeast Asian countries).

Now Jude’s taking on her biggest and boldest business assignment yet, with the potential to turn New Zealand’s funeral industry upside down. Her weapon of choice is Fresh Funerals – the country’s first online funeral planning and ordering website (www.freshfunerals.co.nz).

Launched in January, the business is designed to break new ground in the way Kiwis approach sending their loved ones off.

So why, after 20 years of corporate jobs and ten years in corporate social responsibility, would Jude consider turning her hand to the industry of death and dying?

She explains she’s no stranger to grief, having buried her mother, father, and only sister in successive decades. Her sister’s death (by accident) and subsequent personalised funeral, proved to be the genesis for her Fresh Funerals idea.

“Burying those you love is one of the biggest milestone experiences of life. For me the grief was so overwhelming that it reshaped and redefined my life each time. It started me on a journey of fascination with grief,” she admits.

Jude got thinking about the fact that people struggle to have conversations around the joy aspect of seeing off loved ones. “Because there is joy around celebrating a life. We don’t even have a language around grief; we’re quite illiterate.”

By talking about the subject of death and exploring it, we can deal with it better, she says, adding that in the UK there are special ‘death cafes’ where people gather to discuss the very subject.

“Of course, when you’re planning a funeral, it will very likely be the worst week of your life. You’re overwhelmed, traumatised; even when the death was expected you can still be completely lost. So understandably you go to a funeral director and abdicate [the whole funeral responsibility].”

Jude picked up on an overseas Baby Boomer trend where people openly discuss their funeral wishes with loved ones so everyone is prepared should the worst happen. “It’s reassuring to let people know what you want,” she says, “and takes away any guesswork during what is a highly stressful time.

“It’s a difficult conversation, but if you have it, people feel more comfortable about it.”

How it works
The Fresh Funerals home page states the aim of Jude’s business: ‘self-select funerals delivered wherever you need them’. The website has a free password-protected locked box where people can lodge their funeral wishes – it’s one of many useful options on the website, and covers everything from willing worldly goods, donating organs, right down to the music at your funeral. Perhaps you want to forgo embalming? Or keep the body at home?

“We walk you through the whole funeral process, so you can decide what you’ll do to save costs and what you’d like your funeral director to do for you,” she explains.
There’s also a checklist, with options that allow you to spend money differently and save thousands on the traditional price of a funeral. Once selected and saved, you can send the checklist to family for approval. Press ‘submit’ at the base and it’s automatically sent to funeral directors near you who can email quotes directly. Welcome to the new competitive funeral market – and in case you’re wondering how Jude generates income from the site, it’s purely in product sales alone, such as non-traditional, sustainable coffins. There’s no percentage from the funeral director.

Funeral home services have their shortcomings, Jude reminds me. “You’re in and out in a couple of hours”. Fresh Funerals allows you to break out of the norm to hold that funeral anywhere, and add personal touches – special mementos guests can take home, for example. And yes, there’s a finance option as well.

A long time coming
Fresh Funerals was 18 months in the planning. Jude travelled the country visiting funeral directors and spent countless hours on due diligence. Getting the business model finalised was her biggest challenge. It was her son who suggested running with the final ‘freelance’ direct model. Already comparisons have been drawn with other online processes such as Uber, AirBnB even Harmoney; there’s no doubt Jude is being disruptive, and that’s what excites her the most.

The initial response has been promising. In the first three weeks after going live, with next to no marketing and most of her funds directed at SEO (search engine optimisation), 12 families had already used the Fresh Funerals platform.

Jude acknowledges that Fresh Funerals will not be for everyone; her goal is to have five percent of the $300 million market in the first 18 months to two years, before taking the model across the Tasman and to the US.

She finds it ironic that we can spend 18 months planning a wedding, but only one or two days planning a funeral. “We simply don’t think enough about it.”

Jude’s amazed there hasn’t been a revolution in the funeral industry before now; increasingly people question the old traditions that inevitably form part of the funeral process.

“When you think about it there’s just so much that just fundamentally doesn’t fit with us,” she says. “This business model is disruptive; it puts power into your hands. Rather than collapse in grief, it allows people to step up as a family.

“I really hope that I can bring some small sense of pride to those families.”

Jude admits that for most of her adult life she has followed her passions. With Fresh Funerals, it’s no different. “This business also allows me to express my creativity. It’s the perfect business for me to establish.”