Cozy Cookie in the Media
Published on Sunday,
October 3, 2004
Cute &
Cuddly
By BENJAMIN ROMANO
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
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BRIAN FITZGERALD/Yakima
Herald-Republic |
ELLENSBURG — Even though the mission statement has been retooled once already to sound less like a nonprofit, The Edson Wright Co.'s goal of making "life a little more comfortable and warm for everyone" still doesn't scream fistfuls of cash.
But money has never been high on the list for moms and best friends Mollie Edson and Jane Wright. For nearly eight years now, the satisfaction they get from children's enjoyment of their invention — a plush cookie-shaped heating pad that goes in the microwave — has been compensation enough.
The Cozy Cookie has come a long way from the original nondescript pouch of fabric filled with uncooked rice Wright made to administer heat therapy after she had foot surgery in 1997.
The friends soon found other uses for the comfortable heating pad, such as warming up in their drafty houses or after a winter walk. And Edson's kids liked the soft bag of warmth, too. Then other kids in the neighborhood caught on and before long they realized it had potential as a product.
But the product gathers its heat — which it gives off for up to 45 minutes — from a quick trip through the microwave, which presented a challenge.
"What can you put in the microwave that's going to give kids the right idea?" Edson recalls them asking. They didn't want to make the heating pad in the shape of an animal or other living things.
Edson's dad suggested a cookie and her son named it. The Cozy Cookie was born.
But translating the idea to the cute, compact product they sell today was no easy process.
Neither woman describes herself as a seamstress. Wright experimented with various ways of cutting and stitching Polar Fleece, a polyester material with well-known heat-holding abilities, but they were unhappy with the result.
In 1999, they found an experienced toy maker through Edson's sister. Allison Katzman took their idea and created professional prototypes, perfecting the fabric, scent (it's packed with cloves to suggest fresh-baked gingerbread cookies), filler material and other details to pitch the product to major manufacturers.
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BRIAN FITZGERALD/Yakima
Herald-Republic |
Katzman warned Edson and Wright that only 5 percent to 6 percent of new toy ideas come from outside major toy manufacturers like Mattel and Fisher-Price. So they were excited when both companies agreed to give Cozy Cookie a closer look. Both ultimately rejected the idea, but the inventors were buoyed by even this modest measure of success.
One night, Edson saw a television show featuring Vancouver, Wash.-based Hart Toys, inventor of such famous products as Moon Shoes, described as "mini trampolines made for feet so kids can jump with anti-gravity effects."
The women asked president Joe Hart for 15 minutes of his time. They knew they had to meet with him in person to make the sale.
"You've got to hand someone a warm Cozy Cookie for them to get it," Edson said. "That's why we pushed for a face-to-face meeting."
Hart agreed to manufacture the cookies and the women prepared to "sit back and get royalty checks," Edson said.
And that's when the real work began.
The Cozy Cookie is no Tickle Me Elmo, Wright says, referring to the Sesame Street toy that started flying off the shelves in 1996. Katzman compared it to a Raggedy Ann doll.
"She constantly counseled patience," Edson says.
The Edson Wright Co. is a second career for both women, one which they never imagined.
Wright, 54, has worked for the Kittitas County public health department for 18 years. Edson, 51, was formerly Ellensburg mayor and now works in the continuing education department at Central Washington University.
With no prior business experience, Edson and Wright learned marketing as they went. They were still learning about their product, too.
They realized the Cozy Cookie didn't fit squarely in the traditional toy category. Its comforting characteristics have made the product a winner with sick, sore kids and adults alike.
For that reason, Edson and Wright say they want to put their cookies in the hands of as many people as possible. Profit is a secondary concern.
That didn't match Hart Toy's business model, Edson says, so the women decided to part ways with the toy maker — amicably — and start their own company. Now they market and distribute the cookies out of Edson's garage as The Edson Wright Company.
They divided the marketplace, with Edson and Wright taking bakeries, hospital gift shops and drug stores that better matched their philosophy, and with Hart keeping the toy stores.
Edson and Wright list more than 20 retailers that sell their product in Washington, but e-commerce has been a critical component in their success. Wright calls their company "a miracle of the Internet." They've sold the cookies on eBay, and to customers from across the country who found them via e-mail and the Web. (Their Web site, http://www.cozycookie.com, as well as other marketing functions, is the work of CWU students Edson recruits.)
They've taken the product to toy shows in New York City, where buyers from around the world come to check out the latest products. They're also working to expand into the European market.
They already have a distributor lined up in Belgium, where the product was named "Cuddle of the Year" at a show earlier this year.
The cookie's accolades don't end there. The product has been recognized by the American Specialty Toy Retailers Association, featured in magazines and on television, and was awarded the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
Some 50,000 units have been sold, retailing for about $15 each. Another order of 10,000 is on the way, in preparation for the busy holiday season.
But the greatest dividends Edson and Wright say they've received from the business are less tangible.
Through their Baker's Dozen program, they donate one cookie for every 12 they sell to children's hospitals and homeless shelters and foster homes. United Parcel Service in Yakima pays to ship the donated cookies.
Again this year they will participate in the Children's Miracle Network Radiothon in Yakima, donating a Cozy Cookie every time someone pledges a 12-by-12 donation — $12 dollars a month for all 12 months of the year. The fund-raiser begins Oct. 14.
It's good for business, too. People hear about the cookies and then want one themselves, Edson says.
Giving away product, however, even to a good cause, "probably doesn't make a lot of sense business-wise," Edson admits.
They don't pay themselves and, so far, they aren't showing a profit. But they're not losing money, either. Anyway, there are more important things, they say.
"It's been this real-life lesson in business ... and patience and what your values are, and what success is," Wright says.
They value the part-time work their business creates for an accountant and a marketing manager, the hundreds of donated cookies and the feeling that they're making a big difference in the lives of sick kids.
It's rewarding to have a child from Michigan write to tell them how the Cozy Cookie is saving her sibling's life because with it helps him endure his chemotherapy treatments.
Says Wright, "I could have a million dollars and not feel better than that e-mail made me feel."
Reporter Benjamin Romano can be reached by phone at 577-7684, or by e-mail at bromano@yakima-herald.com.