Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Macabre Marketing: Forest Lawn
Macabre Marketing
Forest Lawn and the entrance of 'dark tourism' in Los Angeles
"Crypt For Sale: overlooking ocean by private owner" reads the ad. A classified post in the sea of advertising in the Megalopolis of Los Angeles, the mortuary market is significant in terms of combining funerary services with the delicacies of celebrity thanatourism. It is an underestimate to argue that Southern California's cemetery real estate is at a premium. Forest Lawn Mortuaries located throughout the Southland, reflect precision in consumer segmentation. Much like the planned communities of the San Fernando Valley surrounding Forest Lawn Mortuaries, 'communities' adjacent find comfortable simulacra in the marketing, spatial organization and classification of the deceased by according to branding and segregation resonant with class identification.
Property ownership and its confining boundaries of memory and social contract merge in the most elite location at Forest Lawn in the plot section, "God's Acre" (Forest Lawn, 2011). In Los Angeles, the prescription for autonomy as private and anonymity as public continues in death as in life. Eternally facing the heavens, the wealthy remain spatially closest to the skies above the smog covered basin. Those unable or unwilling conversely are sold on the Isle of "Contentment" parallel to the 134 freeway.
According to Founder, Hubert Eaton's proclamation titled "The Builder's Creed" -- the vision behind Forest Lawn's master plan included counters to death: fresh flowers encouraged in contribution (Forest Lawn, 2011). Reproductions of a "natural" landscape were sustainable, as well as lawn...
Immortality is marketed as nothing short of the beginning of a new life.
Forest Lawn's brochure offers a wide variety of "resting places" or selection of interment property in "all price ranges." A virtual conglomerate in memorial property, the Mortuary makes a killing in both ground property, and in single and companion lawn and wall crypts, as well as ground plots and niches for cremated remains. Distinguished family memorials are also available to the discretionary client. Prices vary per location (Table 1).
Memorial Property Pricing
Starting Prices
Property
With Endowment Care
Covina Hills
2,000
2,300
Cypress
2,000
2,300
Glendale
2,300
2,645
Hollywood Hills
2,300
2,645
Long Beach **
3,600
4,140
Cathedral City *
6,800
7,820
Down payment of 15% is required to maintain the property price within the Mortuary's Endowment Care Fund. An agent "ready to assist" solicits the caption on the map of the Forest Lawn grounds, replete with home phone and beeper numbers; your future "home" is just a phone call away,
"Everything for the final tribute has been provided . . . undertaking, cemetery, crematorium, churches and flowers may be made conveniently at one location resulting in saving of time and money" (Forest Lawn, 2011).
While cemeteries had of course always been a part of community life in the United States…
References
Forest Lawn (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.forestlawn.com
Mitford, J. (1969). The American Way of Death. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Rentel, R. And Zellnik (2007). Karma Queens, Geek Gods, and Innerprenuers: Meet the Nine Consumer Types Shaping Today's Marketplace. New York: Mc-Graw Hill.
Schwartz, A. (2003). The Queen's Own Private Royal Garden. Scalpel & tongs, 47, 12 -13.
Funeral Home Marketing How is market research used in a family-owned funeral home? The primary manner in which family-owned funeral homes market now -- apart from family referrals, of course -- is over the Web. Many third party companies provide interactive web sites for professionals in the Death Care Industry. They also provide funeral home search engines, national obituary listings, and virtual memorials. By creating a premier web presence, these companies provide Funeral
The Canadian Registry of Regulations is a useful source for demonstrating that the issues with which American trade commissions must respond are similar to those faced in Canada. Tight regulatory control can be observed in provinces such as Nova Scotia such as this source dictates with respect to embalming norms and practices. The document tells that "the Registrar shall, on behalf of the Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral
family-Owned funeral home do to be proactive with regard to safety management? The key to being proactive is to be attentive to the work environment and possible hazard areas. It is of paramount importance for any business owner to examine the working environment of the business and establish what areas and activities are at high risk of having an accident. Once the key accident-risk areas have been identified, steps can
family owned Funeral Home adopt performance appraisals? When dealing with a topic as sensitive as death, it can be difficult to know how to proceed with different families. The standardized implications of formal performance appraisals might seem to be counterintuitive to the nature of a family-based funeral parlor, especially if family members would be doing the critiquing during the meeting. But in a service-based industry, appraisals of individual and collective
Human Resources Training in a funeral home should be proactive, rather than reactive. Reactive training is training based on responding to needs as they are identified and as they become urgent. Proactive training refers to training employees before the need becomes urgent. In any service-based industry dealing with the public, proactive training is the better option because it means that employees are prepared when issues arise and that they can deal
Funeral Services Arranging a funeral is one of the most difficult things a human being will ever have to do. Aside from all the personal issues which are clearly at stake, there are also certain legal issues and state requirements that one also needs to be able to pay attention to. For instance, the Funeral Rule, which is administered by the FTC means that when arranging a funeral, one only needs