Perhaps the strongest example of Wilson & Cooper’s generosity can be traced back to June of this year, when they decided to organise (at their own expense) a massive party for all of their clients to attend. As you will no doubt recall, many people had unattended funerals during the COVID-19 pandemic and it was therefore difficult to properly celebrate the lives of those who had passed away. So, once said restrictions were lifted, it was only inevitable that families would want to belatedly send off their loved ones with overdue wakes. Realising just how high the demand was for this on a local level, Steph had a new idea. Albeit one that raised her colleague’s eyebrows. “I said, we’re going to do a big party to celebrate everyone that passed away”, she recounts. “For all of our families. And we’re going to pay for it too! Adele was admittedly sceptical of that last part.” As it turned out though, the cost was not really much of issue, as Wilson & Cooper were able to cover it by simply forfeiting part of their yearly advertising Creating A Community
budget. You see, up until this point, the team had been following conventional industry wisdom by paying for notices in so-called “bereavement booklets”, which are distributed at hospices, hospitals and garden centres. However, the amount of business that was actually generated from these adverts did not seem to warrant how much was being spent on them and — with Wilson & Cooper gaining so much attention elsewhere (like on social media) — dropping them didn’t feel like a particularly big sacrifice. So, they opted to skip the next couple of bereavement booklets and used the £2,800 that was saved from this to pay for what would eventually become the first “Wilson & Cooper Big Wake.” A total of 350 families were invited to this event (each of whom were allowed to bring up to 4 guests) at The Pink Pig Farm, where they enjoyed outdoor games, separate bouncy castles for both the adults and the children, live entertainment in the form of a singer and, of course, free refreshments. When it came to the latter, Wilson & Cooper paid for all of the coffees, teas, hot chocolates, squash and hog-roast rolls, while one of
their customers (who happened to own a cake shop down the road) supplied some extra treats as a way of saying ‘thank you’. By all accounts, it was a truly heart- warming occasion, with a sense of bonding and good-will that seems very unique to the Wilson & Cooper brand. Everybody pitched in, with another attendee donating the balloons, for instance. Looking back on it, Steph enthuses: “They all loved the Big Wake. We introduced people who had never met before, we had a wish tree that allowed them to leave positive memories, and I feel like we were able to create a [tight- knit] community there. I am so proud of what we achieved that day. “It goes back to our [entire philosophy]. You’ve got to think outside the box, and be unwilling to settle for anything but the best. Okay, we maybe take a hit from time to time, but it’s so worth it to see their faces when everything goes right.”
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Wilson & Cooper
Wilson & Cooper
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