Eternal Image Inc (fka ETNLQ)

[al44]

GM all, more publicity:

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/monday/business/ny-bzcask266011968jan26,0,3638735.story


They're still fans, even from the grave

BY CARRIE MASON-DRAFFEN | [e-mail]
January 26, 2009

Sports fans, you can take it with you. And the Branch Funeral Home in Smithtown wants to make it possible.

Branch offers caskets and urns imprinted with the logos of Major League Baseball teams, which in this area primarily means the Mets and Yankees.

The funeral home began offering caskets with logos in October and urns two years ago, said John Vigliante, 32, owner and manager of the 40-year-old family business.

So far for the caskets, it's Mets 1, Yankees 0. A buyer prepurchased a casket for himself, Vigliante said. As for the urns, the score is even at 5-5 for the 10 imprinted vessels holding the ashes of dearly departed fans.

Vigliante said he got the idea for the caskets last year while attending the National Funeral Directors Association Convention in Florida.

"I saw them, and I thought it was something [that would interest] somebody that happened to be a fan of baseball," he said.

The tops of the caskets, which are 18-gauge steel with a velvet interior, feature a splash of the ash wood used to make bats. The caskets have 13 colorful logos inside and out, Vigliante said. Ten are team insignia - blue and orange for the Mets and white and royal blue for the Yankees. Other teams' logos are also available. The remaining three designs show the Major League Baseball logo of a player at bat.

The caskets sell for $5,900 with the logos, $4,900 without, Vigliante said. The urns, which he also first saw at an industry convention, sell for $750 with logos and $550 without.

The urns are also made with a team's colors. At the top of each sits a baseball encased in plastic, while the bottom has a replica of home plate. An enterprising family whose deceased relative was a Mets fan got the baseball for its urn signed by David Wright, the Mets' third baseman.

Vigliante orders the caskets through Eternal Image, a Michigan company that he said is the country's only manufacturer of licensed brand-image products for the funeral industry.

Vigliante markets his offerings, which also include products with "Star Trek" images, through local papers, news releases and the company's Web site. He's aware the idea may strike some as ghoulish.

"It's not for everybody," he said. But he noted that many customers approve of them.

"When going through the room, everybody sees [the caskets], and they seem to gravitate toward them," Vigliante said.