Yahoo Finance Billionaire behind Go Compare singer to shake up cremations with upbeat marketing
The insurance tycoon behind Go Compare’s fictional opera singer Gio Compario is plotting a similarly uplifting advertising campaign to resurrect the fortunes of Britain's biggest funeral provider.
Billionaire Sir Peter Wood, also behind Direct Line's red telephone TV adverts in the 1990s, is planning to inject levity into the marketing of funeral services.
“I’ve already asked my creative people to have a look at how this could be done,” he said.
“Perhaps we’d have a horse-drawn hearse with the two horses talking to each other ‘he got a great deal on this you know’.”
Sir Peter, 76, is part of a consortium of City investors buying Dignity, the Sutton Coldfield-based funeral director and cremation provider, in a deal that values its shares at £280 million.
Other changes to the business being considered include running crematoriums up to 24 hours-a-day to reduce carbon emissions, promote “remote” cremations, and sign up wedding venues to deliver an upbeat “life celebration” rather than a traditional wake.
Sir Peter is one of Britain’s most successful insurance entrepreneurs. He founded Direct Line in 1985 as the UK’s first telephone-only insurer.
Backed by Royal Bank of Scotland and assisted by an aggressive TV advertising campaign, Direct Line became the largest insurer of vehicles in the country within a decade.
By the early 1990s, Sir Peter attracted a backlash from Labour politicians such as then shadow trade secretary Robin Cook after becoming Britain’s best-paid executive.
After leaving Direct Line in 1997, Sir Peter went on to found esure two years later, again alongside a high street bank – this time, Halifax. He also masterminded women’s specialist car insurer Sheilas’ Wheels.
Insurance comparison website Go Compare was acquired by esure in 2014 where Sir Peter enhanced the image of Gio Compario, a bungling Italian tenor played by Wynne Evans. Within a year, Gio Compario and Go Compare was voted the “most irritating advertisement”.
The pandemic has accelerated a trend towards “remote” cremations – where the traditional service at a crematorium is dispensed with, usually in preference for the money being used for a life celebration or similar.
Gary Channon, Sir Peter’s business partner in the swoop for Dignity, said: “We collect the deceased and then… return ashes to you. And you can have a service somewhere else
The proportion of cremations that are performed remotely has risen from 1.5pc to 20pc, according to Dan Garrett, chief executive of Farewill, a will-writing specialist.
Mr Garrett founded his business in 2015 and realised that “hundreds of thousands” no longer wanted a traditional funeral.
“The cultural norms that have been in the past just don't cut it anymore,” he said.
Sir Peter added: “Here in the UK we avoid talking about what happens after we have gone. It’s a pity because your funeral or send off should be a celebration of a life well lived."
Pre-paid funerals have come under scrutiny in recent years following the failure of Safe Hands last year. It collapsed into administration, leaving 46,000 customers facing uncertainty as to the safety of their pre-payments. Dignity was among a number of providers that took on customers affected by the bankruptcy.
The UK is significantly behind other countries in setting money aside for funerals. Just 7pc of the over-50s have funeral plans, compared with 70pc in the Netherlands, Mr Channon said.
Sir Peter said: “In other countries they do this – in Asia it’s a duty to be well prepared for when you die. Closer to home in the Netherlands most people have funeral plans of some type or other.”
