Titan Casket sells 'Mort' plush to start conversations about funerals - Boston Business Journal

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But why would an e-commerce company that brands itself as the fastest direct-to-consumer casket company in the U.S. start selling stuffed toys? Specifically, a squishy brown character with hands, legs and a Cheshire Cat smile presented as your "go-to guide for life's inevitable journey?" The answer has to do with brand awareness and the Holy Grail of making sales: pre-bookings.

Caskets, coffins, urns and … plush toys. Which is not like the others?

None. Massachusetts company Titan Casket, which sells caskets online at an average price of $1,500, is all about funerals — and its product offering mix now includes a $19.99 coffin-shaped plushie with googly eyes and a green bow tie.

His name? Mort.

"It’s a twist on 'Mortician,'" said Joshua Siegel, COO of Titan Casket, in a recent interview.

But why would an e-commerce company that brands itself as the fastest direct-to-consumer casket company in the U.S. start selling stuffed toys? Specifically, a squishy brown character with hands, legs and a Cheshire Cat smile presented as your "go-to guide for life's inevitable journey?"

The answer has to do with brand awareness and the Holy Grail of making sales: pre-bookings.

Many companies need to let customers know they’re open for business. Yet Titan Casket’s challenge in this regard is particularly complicated.

Since caskets are often thought of as "the very last thing one will need," customers tend to wait until the death of a loved one makes the purchase necessary — often from the funeral home, as part of a pricey package, Titan said.

Few people making funeral arrangements have the mental space to consider the implications of the FTC's admittedly obscure Funeral Rule, stating that funeral providers cannot refuse to handle a casket (or urn) their customers bought elsewhere.

Enter Titan Casket, which grounds its business in telling customers they can save money if they buy their caskets online and in advance. Based in Methuen, the company says it can ship caskets from a catalog of more than 1,000 options from six warehouses in the U.S.

Casket pre-bookings, which are now 30% of Titan’s business, allow customers to lock in prices and choose from more options, Titan advertises. (Its exact words: “Buy now. Die later”). Yet the act of going online and picking a casket usually requires a family conversation around death, and that is “very uncomfortable for most people,” Siegel said.

So how about a casket-shaped toy as a conversation starter?

Credit for the idea of Titan Casket having a mascot goes to Elan Gale, a former producer for the ABC dating franchise “The Bachelor” who last year became Titan Casket’s creative director.

The actual design of the character fell into the hands of a freelance designer Titan Casket hired for the occasion, who delivered the final layout in two weeks.

Mort made its debut on social media last year. As a plush toy, he’s been available for orders on Titan Casket’s website since mid September this year, shipping from the Seattle area. “Dozens” of Morts sold in the first two weeks, Titan said.

Of course, Mort has his own backstory, according to Siegel.

"He was a funeral director in a former life, and he sold a lot of overpriced caskets, and now he's been reincarnated as a team mascot to make up for some of his misdeeds and let people know that they have these options out there," Siegel said.

Titan Casket is not new to pushing the boundaries of traditional marketing.

The company made national headlines in 2022, when one of its caskets appeared in Taylor Swift’s video for her song "Anti-hero."

The following year, it hired David Dastmalchian, an actor known for appearing in Dune, Oppenheimer and The Suicide Squad, as a brand ambassador.

Earlier this year, Dastmalchian starred in a promotional campaign co-produced by Titan to “bury” daylight saving time as a cause of serious health issues.

In the video, the actor said on behalf of the company, “We’re playing the long game here. What are you going to do? Not die?”

Spring forward and fall back… are just two ways it could happen. Let’s Bury Daylight Savings. pic.twitter.com/MrQn0m8UOi

Siegel said he’s aware that such initiatives may offend some or cause pain, because "everyone's had loss in their life." Yet he believes the final goal makes it worth the risk.

"We're just so convinced that having a conversation in advance of a loss saves so much pain and money from that family that we've been willing to really push the line in where we take our marketing," he said.

And Scott Ginsberg, co-founder and CEO at Titan Casket, added in a joint interview that the company was "timid" with its marketing in the early days, but quickly learned what it has become its whole strategy: "Be bold. Get out there. Be afraid."

Mass. advertising employees