Eternal Image Inc (fka ETNLQ)

[al44]

from Lubbock TX:

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/121008/spo_365724494.shtml



121008 SPORTS 1 Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
If you claim to be a Texas Tech fan for life, you don't have to stop there.
So, you think you're a diehard Red Raiders fan?
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Story last updated at 12/10/2008 - 1:42 am

If you claim to be a Texas Tech fan for life, you don't have to stop there.

You can take your love for the Red Raiders straight to the grave - and keep it there for eternity.

Along with traditional memorabilia such as caps, jerseys and pennants, the ultimate fan can now purchase caskets and urns adorned with the Texas Tech emblem.

I'm dead serious.

A public relations firm representing Eternal Image, a Michigan company that specializes in branded funeral products, sent me an e-mail this week along with a photo of the Tech-themed wooden casket. It features a small Double-T logo on the outside, as well as the official university seal on the inner lining and pillow.

Clint Mytych, the company's 27-year-old founder and president, said the retail price for the Tech casket is $4,699, and at least one has already been sold. He said the urns, which will soon be available, cost $799.

This unusually morbid line of merchandise isn't exclusive to Tech. Eternal Image has a licensing agreement with the Collegiate Licensing Company, which represents nine conferences and more than 150 schools across the country. Among the funeral company's other licensees are Major League Baseball, Star Trek, the American Kennel Club and the Vatican.

Mytych said the baseball-themed products have been the most popular - estimating that about 1,800 urns and a couple hundred caskets have been sold - and he expects the collegiate line to follow suit.

"People have been longing for something different for a long time," said Mytych, who started the company in 2003. "For 100 years in this country it's just been metal and wood, and nothing's been personalized. We really think we came around at the right time."

The whole thing seems a little creepy to me, and a little too exploitative. By capitalizing on mortality, Eternal Image might be burying good taste.

But it's a brilliant idea from a business standpoint because, after all, everybody dies. And because people are so passionate about their favorite sports teams and alma maters, Eternal Image figures to make a killing (pun intended).

Mytych said only one school has declined to participate in the collegiate product line - he also said Texas Tech signed off on the design, by the way - and that the reaction from customers has mostly been positive. He said the company even receives thank-you letters from some customers.

"No one's ever said that we're doing anything tacky or distasteful," Mytych said. "... I think we're doing a great thing."

If you're proud enough to spend eternity in a Tech coffin, you might as well go all out. So instead of being buried in your best suit or dress, why not be decked out with a Tech helmet and the replica jersey of your favorite Red Raider? Feel free to throw in some other keepsakes, such as a Raider Power sticker, old ticket stubs or even a football.

And when your funeral rolls around, don't settle for the same old sappy music. Instead of, say, Amazing Grace, have the organist play the Tech fight song over and over again.

Where there's a will and testament, there's a way. But make sure you don't pick a plot next to a Longhorn or Aggie, because it might be tough to Wreck 'Em in peace.