DeadHappy — for being bold in talking about death
In a UK market that has declined an average of 6% each year of the last five, DeadHappy’s reported growth in 2021 is not the only thing defying category conventions.
That’s because DeadHappy has radically rethought everything about the business it’s in. Its revenue is generated through selling Life Insurance, but at the core of its identity is a deeply embedded mission to change the way we think about death and after-life planning. Not just the cultural mores at play- the hushed tones, the lowered eyes, the deeply awkward desire to avert and avoid - but how we step up to it, think about it, talk about it – and ultimately, how we die responsibly.
Having closed out December 2021 having raised $7.08m of Series B funding, we sat down with Ed Edwards, Head of Brand, and Lucy Holton, Head of Growth at DeadHappy, to tell us more.
‘People don’t want to mention death — and we don’t want to force people to confront death. But we do want to make it easier for people to understand that there are things that they can do to help them plan for death,’ shares Edwards. ‘Understandably, the traditional Avivas of this world go for shock tactics, it’s scary,’ adds Holton, ‘For example, every day 66 children in the UK lose a parent who doesn’t have financial protection in place’. With over 8.5 million people in the UK who don’t have life insurance but should, there is a £2.4 trillion estimated protection gap- and that’s what DeadHappy is here to help fill.
Born out of the Founder’s very personal frustration with trying to buy his own life insurance, that restless attunement to thinking about things from the customers’ point of view has shaped the business’ mission and character from the inside out. DeadHappy is the picture-perfect example of marrying a genuinely compellingly different challenger product proposition with a point of view about the world at large. Offering an alternative to the complex, inflexible, dour category of old, you only need to take a glance at their Seedrs pitch to see how they are turning everything on its head.
Flexible, affordable, (and dare they say it) enjoyable, DeadHappy is a great illustration of a new kind of next-generation challenger, not only in terms of its accessible brand style, but in the way its foundational de-positioning of what has gone before is built into the very fabric of the offer. Their Deathwishes are a perfect example of that. Most people have no idea how to go about planning or working out what to do to plan their after-life care, but the Deathwish platform makes it simple. Whether you want to pay for a loved one’s education, or turn your ashes into a diamond ring to add to the family treasure trove, DeadHappy have laid out the most absurdly elegant tech and light-hearted tone to help you compile your list of wishes and get a policy in place to support that.
Mick and Tel star in Deadhappy’s 2021 debut TV ad ‘Changing Channels’.
In a world where brands are terrified of getting cancelled, DeadHappy is bold in talking about death, but it is not a flat-footed Irreverent Maverick of old. They are constantly testing and learning and building a culture that is resilient and ready to engage with the debate it sparks. ‘We have to be careful’ shared Edwards reflecting on their delicately honed tone and behaviours, ‘We don’t want to offend people; we do care about people. But it gets tricky at times, so it’s really important for us that we offer a mix of the funny and the profound…. it ultimately should be life-affirming’.
There is so much to say about this company: from their values and behaviours that relentlessly move the category forward, to how they’ve nurtured a culture that lives their mission from the inside out (their first value is ‘you are not a child’, which they have emblazoned in the toilets at HQ). From how they structure the business, to their Happiness Honchos, technology development and their phenomenally refreshing adverts, everything this business does is rallied around its mission to change attitudes to death, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
