Page A20
SEPTEMBER 2015
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
MaryAnne Scheuble, a graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University, is the
Hekman Furniture Specialist to the memorial industry. Her design experi-
ence began with Ethan Allen as an Interior Decorator in Pittsburgh, PA.
After a move to the education field, which lasted a few years, she joined
Cressy Memorial Group. For almost 10 years, she has been working with
funeral and cemetery business owners, managers, marketing directors,
as well as interior decorators. Her credits include presenter at ICCFA, and
two-time speaker at OFDA, as well as author of articles for
Funeral Home
& Cemetery News
and
The Independent
. A mother of two sons, her re-
cent move to Cressy Memorial Group headquarters in Mishawaka, IN
has proved to be a joyful life transition. Contact MaryAnne by email at
or call 866-763-0485.
By MaryAnne Scheuble
Designing
Woman
True Colors
When preparing a body, funeral directors well understand the
challenge of selecting appropriate shades for make-up. The de-
ceased’s suit or dress or the casket lining can enhance or detract
based on how those colors work with the skin tone and hair col-
or. Correct coloring and shading are extremely important for a
perfect presentation and make your services memorable!
Of course, funeral directors aren’t the only ones who worry
about color matches. Have you ever wondered about why you
just can’t find a coordinating sweater to go with the soft plaid
pants from a couple seasons back, or blue pillows to help up-
date your 10 year old sofa, or new floor selections with similar
shading to the 5 year old countertop? As with everything else,
color preferences and trends change over time.
It may surprise you to know that colors and color palettes are
chosen years in advance mostly by one company. Since 1964
the
Pantone Color Institute
has
worked to perfect color
trueness and color match and is known as the world resource
for color solutions. Their research has provided industries
sponses to color.
• Reaction to color is intuitive and emotional. Only
5% of our response is rational.
• Retail store customers focus their attention based on
color within three seconds.
• Color crosses cultural boundaries (all cultures use
color).
• Color is contextual thus color studies are important
because perception (trends) change.
• White is the top-selling color for all products.
• Black suggests richness or luxury and can command
a higher price in retail items.
Just for fun, notice what colors are used in compa-
ny logos or advertisements. What do you think those
colors “say” about them? UPS chose brown. Many
high-tech companies have blue logos. High-end lux-
ury items such as Cadillac and Channel use black to
promote their products. Red Bull’s high energy drink
makes you think of “red” but interestingly, the can is
mostly blue and silver.
The important part of this is that color is an easy way
to make us memorable – or forgettable. Remember
that 80% of what we see influences our thinking – only
5% of what we see affects our rational side. Trend col-
ors attract interest because new colors stimulate our vi-
sual sense of curiosity.
Just to note – the 2015 Color of the Year is “Marsala”.
Pantone also features a “color of the day” for fun! Perhaps
you have a certain logo color or your funeral home has a col-
or theme throughout. What message do your colors project?
Whatever it is, remember that color can make your business
positively memorable. So, find those true colors – the ones
that truly project a color message. Think about it, color can
be
your
minion!
Thanks to Richard Soar and Laurie Pressman at the Pantone
Color Institute for their kind assistance.
Pantone was even called on to develop a color
used by Universal Studios. See
Minion Yellow
below.
Research has determined that 80% of the hu-
man experience is filtered through our eyes. Visu-
al clues draw us into our environment. Colors can
influence our moods and evoke a memory. These
memories can generate strong associations of an
event, person or feeling. There are general associa-
tions with colors. White is reminiscent of inno-
cence and purity – as in “pure as the driven snow”;
browns
convey strength and stability (earth, rich
woods);
pink
suggests frivolity or playfulness
(cotton candy, bubble gum), blue projects the im-
age of trust and dependability (ocean, sky). Mean-
while,
green
has become the new neutral and has
the widest range of all colors with 8-10 million
shades being documented. Green is restorative,
and evokes feelings of freshness and nature.
Additional studies have shown that:
• A product’s color has more influence than its
shape.
• Color commands attention and creates asso-
ciations.
• There are physiological and psychological re-
with true color
coordination in
many products
you see. Each sea-
son, trend colors
for fabrics, house-
wares and fashion
items are coor-
dinated to create
unified palettes.
Pantone works
with varied indus-
tries to make sure
that print ads,
fabrics and logos,
to name a few, re-
tain their true col-
or no matter what
medium is used.
second quarter of 2014. However, comparable funeral
gross profits grew $1.6 million. Consolidated ceme-
tery gross profit increased $16.8 million in the second
quarter of 2015 over the prior year quarter and the
gross margin percentage increased 470 basis points to
26.5%. Net cash provided by operating activities ex-
cluding special items increased 3.6% to $101.9 mil-
lion in the second quarter of 2015 compared to $98.4
million in the prior year quarter.
Tom Ryan
, the Company’s President and Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer, commented on the second quarter of
2015: “We are very proud of the operating perfor-
mance during the second quarter, which resulted in a
22% improvement in normalized earnings per share.
This represents our fifth consecutive quarter of dou-
ble-digit percentage growth in normalized earnings
per share. Robust preneed cemetery sales production
continues to be the primary factor driving our earn-
ings ahead of our expectations. Through six months,
normalized earnings per share has increased 16% and
adjusted operating cash flows has also increased 14%.
Coming off of this performance, we have revised up-
wards the midpoint of our annual earnings and cash
flow guidance and we expect to continue to deploy
capital strategically to increase shareholder value in
the back half of 2015.”
Service Corporation International (NYSE: SCI),
headquartered in Houston, is North America’s leading
provider of deathcare products and services. SCI mar-
kets the Dignity Memorial® brand which offers assur-
ance of quality, value, caring service, and exception-
t
.
Memorial®,
SCI Announces Second Quarter 2015 Financial
Results and Updates 2015 Financial Guidance
HOUSTON,TX—
Service Corporation International
,
the largest provider of deathcare products and servic-
es in North America, reported results for the second
quarter 2015.
Diluted earnings per share from continuing opera-
tions excluding special items grew 21.7% to $0.28 in
the second quarter of 2015 over the same period in
2014. Consolidated funeral gross profit declined $6.1
million in the second quarter of 2015 compared to the
