Can “Super Venues” and “Great Experiences” raise revenues per case?

June 30, 2026/Business, Products/

I’ve written before in this medium that a big-part of my business strategy philosophy North Star came from reading the book “Megatrends” by John Naisbitt in 1982. Naisbitt’s best-seller predicted 10 trends that would change behavior, including consumer behavior, over the next generation. From reading that book, I realized that if you want to “pull” business to your business you had to be ahead of the trends in getting your business ready to profit from those trends as they came to be.

It might be hard to believe but I believe that our funeral firm was ahead of the trends with Aftercare for clientele and also with the marketing of Preneed funeral plans for consumers. I believe that our firm benefitted greatly as when other firms started adding Aftercare and Preneed staff we had already been doing such for five or more years. And, that head start gave our firm a terrific opportunity to pick up market share in our trade market from clientele who eventually wanted those types of service.

Even today I believe that Death Care firms can benefit from some of the change forces that Naisbitt mentioned in his 1982 book. One of those changes in society that Naisbitt predicted in 1982 was the fact that “as society moves to a more high-tech world people may also seek more human-centered experiences”. Naisbitt defined it as the more “High-tech we get, the more High-touch we will need“.

Over the weekend I could not help but think about this as I read about Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi’s recent experience at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in the south of France and the experience of Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell at the company’s recent CEO Membership Dinner.

Sozzi’s message quoted this comment from Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat (Tapestry is the owner of Coach and Kate Spade brands), “We’re finding a very resilient and steady consumer. But what we see with our business is that [the] consumer is craving this creativity and innovation. And when we deliver it, that’s when they’re responding.” (Bold emphasis by Funeral Director Daily)

And Shontell mentioned in her article that “Tech billionaires are hedging AI by investing in physical experiences“. To me that screams of Naisbitt’s prediction of a “High-tech, High-touch” future. She continues on by pointing out that AOL co-founder and startup investor Steve Case feels the same. She states in her Saturday Fortune 500 Digest article, “Case is betting that in an era of digital fatigue, owning a great experience will be worth a lot”.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take: What can those of us in the Death Care business take from these comments in concert with the idea that you need to be ahead of the trends?

While it is appears true, that by the decisions they make, many Americans don’t seem to want celebrations or services at the time of death. . . . .I believe that, offered the appropriate venues and experiences, that the number of families that do want them would increase — and with that raise the revenue per case that funeral homes are now seeing stagnate or even drop.

Westerleigh’s Super Venues — Westerleigh, a Death Care provider that does about 74,000 cremations at 42 sites across Great Britain per year, is betting on just that. The company is in the process of building and remdeling some of their sites into what they call “Super Venues”. These venues allow for a more creative and immersible experience. Westerleigh’s CEO Debbie Smith made these comments in this recent article about the Super Venues, “We knew we had something special and committed to invest to make it more widely available, which is exactly what we are doing”.

In the United States, the firm of Flanner & Buchanan of Indianapolis appears to be ahead of the trends with their event venues which attract everything from business conferences to weddings. To see a list and description of their event venues click here.

Does the Flanner & Buchanan model of building event venues for the community represent an emerging trend of Death Care providers doing such? I would argue that there is probably a great opportunity in that model. The disposition of the human body, whether it be cremation, earth burial, natural organic reduction, or alkaline hydrolysis, does not seem to offer “the experience” that the vast majority of the consumer public will pay premium prices for in today’s world.

Maybe offering a great experience in a “built for events” venue for post-disposition events to a family experiencing loss is the next natural evolution of the Death Care profession?

The Sphere in Las Vegas — I have many friends who have visited Las Vegas recently simply to attend a concert or other event at the Sphere Arena. They go and pay extra, as compared to seeing the event in a Minneapolis or St. Paul arena, for what they say is “an experience that they cannot get anywhere else”. As this article mentions, what was once thought to be a venue that would live off the visitors to Las Vegas has now turned into a venue that may even be inching the total tourism to Las Vegas upwards because of its popularity.

I wonder. . . does that speak to Naisbitt’s prediction that we will need more “high-touch” experiences with family and friends. And, like Westerleigh’s Super Venues, the “high-touch” we experience with friends and family may come about because of new and more modern technology that allows us to create those “high-touch” experiences.

Here is a recent article on the Sphere’s success and its potential to build a new kind of in-arena experience for attendees. There are now plans to build “Sphere-like” entertainment complexes in Abu Dhabi and at National Harbor near Washington, DC.

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