LEGACY.COM SHARES FIRST LOOK AT OBITWRITER℠ AT NFDA CONVENTION
Nov 14, 2017
First-Ever Natural Language Generation Tool Makes Writing Obituaries Easier
October 24, 2017 - EVANSTON, IL – Legacy.com, the world's top destination for people seeking obituaries and funeral service information, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Narrative Science, the leader in advanced natural language generation, to develop ObitWriter℠. ObitWriter℠ leverages Quill, the Narrative Science advanced natural language platform, to create a first-of-its-kind tool that helps funeral directors and families easily create obituaries for placement in local newspapers.
Legacy.com is best known for bringing newspaper obituaries online, and in the process helping millions of people share the news with their local communities. A national survey indicates that 9 out of 10 people are interested in placing a newspaper obituary. Qualitative research indicates the process of writing an obituary is difficult and stressful for families. ObitWriter℠ guides family members though a simple, interactive format that generates a complete, publish-ready custom obituary in minutes. The obituary text can easily be distributed to family and friends for review, saved for any finishing touches or published directly to a newspaper via partner links on Legacy.com.
“We think everyone deserves a proper obituary, but most need help writing one,” said Stopher Bartol, Legacy.com’s founder and CEO. “ObitWriter is a breakthrough that simplifies this important task for families and the funeral directors serving them.”
“Wherever there is a need to create personalized communications at scale, Quill can help,” said Nick Beil, chief operating officer at Narrative Science. “We are excited Legacy.com is applying our innovative technology to achieve its important mission of preserving life stories for generations to come.”
ObitWriter℠ is being previewed for the first time publicly at the National Funeral Directors Association Annual Convention in Boston on Oct. 30, 2017, as the Expo Hall opens. Legacy.com expects to make the service available broadly and at no charge, beginning in the new year, to make the process of creating and placing obituaries easier.
About Legacy.com
Legacy.com is the global leader in online obituaries with over 40 million visitors a month and ranked as a Top 50 domain in the U.S. by Quantcast. Through the Legacy.com, Tributes.com and Legacy-iA brands, the company provides support and obituary-related services to more than 1,500 newspapers and 4,000 funeral homes in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., and Europe to help people express condolences and share remembrances of loved ones. Legacy.com's partners benefit from unparalleled scale and expertise that enables the delivery of industry-leading products, innovative e-commerce solutions, and award-winning customer service. Legacy.com is headquartered in Evanston, Illinois. Visit www.legacy.com for more information.
About Narrative Science
Narrative Science is the leader in advanced natural language generation (Advanced NLG) for the enterprise. Quill, its Advanced NLG platform, learns and writes like a person, automatically transforming data into Intelligent Narratives—insightful, conversational communications full of audience-relevant information that provide complete transparency into how analytic decisions are made. Customers, including Credit Suisse, Deloitte, MasterCard, PricewaterhouseCoopers, USAA and members of the U.S. intelligence community, use Intelligent Narratives to make better business decisions, focus talent on higher-value opportunities and improve communications with their customers.
