Our refurb:
Refurb
update
the inside story
Refurbishment of our funeral homes and care centres is well underway. We’ve got some great
behind-the-scenes details for you, and top tips from a team who’ve just had their refurb.
O
ur refurbishment
project began
12 months ago
– the day after
we announced
we were going back to Being
Co-op at our AGM. We now
have over 200 funeral homes
in the new Pioneer style.
Asking the
right people
Before
Top tips!
After
Clifford
Oldham’s
exterior
Did you
know?
We did a lot of
research before
Where our funeral home’s
our rebrand
next to a Food store,
The new interior you
with both clients
we’ve got a cream
see
above was the
and colleagues.
signage option to help
us stand out.
clear favourite, so we
This research
set up a mock funeral
helped us make
home in our warehouse
decisions like including
in Manchester with everything
the local area name in the funeral
included that you’d find in the
home name – for example
refurbishment – even down to the
‘Rochdale Funeralcare’.
sofa and desk furniture.
For the interior, we developed
After the details were decided,
four different design concepts
we redesigned three funeral homes
and carried out research to
and unveiled the new signage on
help us understand which the
day one after last year’s AGM.
preferred option was and why.
Finishing
touches
Morningside Funeral
Home, Edinburgh,
Clients have given us
had their rebrand
positive feedback to say the
in May. We asked
new finishing touches – like old
Marianne Leary,
photos from the local area –
make our branches a more
Funeral Arranger,
homely environment.
if anything has changed
since their rebrand and
for her top tips.
Marianne said: “Clients have
come into the branch since our rebrand to say they
didn’t realise before we were part of Co-op but
now they’ll use us in the future. I’ve also had more
clients getting in touch about funeral plans and
Co-op membership.”
Here are her top tips:
1 Get planning! “We had a schedule for the
work on the front of the branch so we used it to
plan client appointments around the rebrand.“
2 Tell your local area what’s happening.
“We sent letters to the local community and
to solicitors, local businesses and nursing
homes, so they knew about the change –
and that we were still the sa me people and
company inside!”
To the letter
It wasn’t just our decor that had a makeover – 30 pieces
of literature needed to be changed too. We produced
new letterheads, business cards and compliment slips
for 692 funeral homes. We also updated our window
point of sale, local press advertising, keyrings and pens
– anything with a logo on changed for day one after
the 2016 AGM.
3 Talk to each other. “We worked together
to make sure clients weren’t affected.
Our manager made sure we knew when our
new leaflets would be delivered and when
to box up and recycle our old ones. We also
worked with Marketing to send out letters to
our local area.”
Our Voice / June 2017
3