“Not Yet lightens existential dread by offering facts, figures and safety suggestions in an effort to introduce the idea of memorial planning. Making awful things less scary—like how to escape from a sinking car—is a great way to connect with users.” —juror Libby Bawcombe
“Clever, funny and smartly designed to ask questions that are often ignored. Well-designed death planning—we actually need this.” —juror Keri Elmsly
Overview: Although Mount Pleasant Group is a collective of cemeteries and funeral centers, they don’t want you to die—not yet, anyway. A colorful website by design firm UNION in Toronto, with animations by Tendril and sound design by Pirate, both in Toronto as well, features helpful advice on how to stay alive, whether the instructions dictate what to do if you’re in an avalanche, being attacked by an anaconda or choking on food. The site sparks conversations on funeral preplanning by reminding people that because you preplanned, there’s a lot of life left for you to live without worry.
•The site includes a quiz that reminds visitors of all the steps they need to take to effectively preplan their funerals.
•Ten animated videos made up the centerpiece of an associated online campaign, which included banners, native advertising, print and takeovers.
•The site took approximately five months to complete.
Comments by Michael Takasaki:
Describe the purpose of the project. “Funeral planning can be a taboo subject for many people. We wanted to shift the focus to the positive—celebrating life—while encouraging dialogue on the importance of preplanning in a lighthearted way. The message is that Mount Pleasant wants you to live a long and fulfilling life, because the more you live, the more you leave to remember.”
What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “The subject of end-of-life planning is typically a somber one—and not one that many consumers want to be confronted with. We used humor as a way to begin the conversation about an otherwise avoidable topic, celebrating life while encouraging dialogue on the importance of preplanning.”
Is the audience you were targeting a particularly difficult one to reach? “Since we were targeting people aged 55 years and up, we were reaching a group of active online users. However, they use online media in a different way than younger consumers. Our insights helped us shape our online media approach and how we sought out—and found—our target audience. In addition, the creative idea was designed to soften the approach to funeral planning. The videos were used to drive as many visits as possible to the microsite; once on the site, users were encouraged to take a quick quiz and find out how simple preplanning can be.”
