by Ian Crockett

While perusing the large selection of commemorative items in Fairhaven Memorial Park and Mortuary’s showroom, I saw a picture frame that included a container to house ashes. I thought it was a fantastic idea and the perfect memorial to my wife of 32 years that I recently lost. When the Fairhaven representative informed me the picture frame concept had flopped, I was stunned.
The intent is to have a photo of the deceased in the frame and their cremated ashes stored behind the photo. I would think that for many people this is superior to the urn since you only tell those you want to know. Those who might get “creeped out” over cremated ashes of a deceased in a living room never need to know there’s anything behind the picture.
I chose not to put a photo of my wife in the frame. Over the years, I’ve developed a number of friends from different times of my life that are now scattered all over the country. The moment they heard my wife had died, they all dropped what they were doing and rushed to my side. At the Memorial Service, a picture was taken of all of us standing in my front yard. It even included my Great Pyrenees dog Sabrina, who was my wife’s companion. It was that photo I selected to accompany my wife’s ashes. I have pictures of my wife all over the house, at my office and in my wallet, so I felt this was a fitting tribute to my very best friend.
Everyone I’ve told about the picture frame idea or have seen it, think it’s a fantastic idea. A couple of people who have lost their own loved ones have indicated they are going to Fairhaven to purchase one. When I tell them the concept wasn’t well received, they are as flabbergast as I was when I heard they were no longer being manufactured.
As a marketing person, I wonder if it was the idea or how the idea was marketed. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that if you build a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door. That’s no longer the case since the world is a lot larger and channels of distribution are established. If you fail to have the correct channel or don’t create awareness to a product or idea, the world will never know you had the superior mouse trap.
In the digital age, photos are more prominent, so perhaps it’s time to approach a frame manufacturer to rekindle the idea while offering the proper marketing support to make sure the world beats a path to their door.