And so the Cookie Crumbles – A Sad Day
I was not surprised by this morning’s news as The New York Times reported that in their post- McKinsey portfolio (oh, well that title is gone too, so maybe a bad world choice on my part), Conde Nast would be three titles short – Cookie, Gourmet and Modern Bride would close. And while it was clear to me that this was coming – I am not any less sad to see Cookie go. The fate of Cookie has been the all the buzz for months among those in the parenting category as well as the publishing community. Most of my publishing insider friends felt Cookie was essentially “dead man walking” and in the juvenile category we all hopped against hope that the magazine that made us sudden rock stars (our world has become super cool thanks to Pilar Guzman and her incredible editorial vision).
At ABC kids I spent a great deal of my time with publishers and group publishing heads discussing what many felt was already a fait accompli – the end of Cookie. Much of the conversation centered on their ad pages and their obvious failure to pull in revenue and meet projections especially within the category. And while I am always happy to discuss circulation and ad pages (I am an old magazine girl with publishing blood coursing through my veins) – what really strikes me is the rise and the fall of the Cookie brand. Because really – Cookie defined so much of the modern parent movement – and gave us all a stake in something well beyond our means.
Cookie, the bible of aspirational parenting (as I call it) – hit the scene in 2005. Ad pages were mostly filled with lifestyle ads well outside of the juvenile category. Fashion pages were the main “cross-over” (none of us ever believed these were more than bonus pages, no matter) and the book looked good. It was not honest (who lived like the moms in the pages of Cookie?), but it was fun! Cookie was high style and high imagination for main street parents. This beautifully presented insiders look at parenting on Melrose and Madison was in perfect synchronicity with America’s near obsession with celebrity pregnancy and baby. It gave readers access to a world well beyond their means, and before Cookie – outside of even their fantasy zone. It also paved the way for a new generation of luxury goods within the category and defined a new psychographic category of mom (a Cookie Mom was a spender, a trend-setter and a woman with a very clear aesthetic –not to mention a nanny and great shoes). Manufacturers who catered to this category were suddenly understood and adored. This tricked down in a very real economic way to Main Street Moms who made it their business not only to know what was happening on Melrose and Madison but also to have a little piece of it themselves. Cookie was all that was shiny and hip about parenting. It was bold and unapologetic – and now it is gone.
I want to consider what will come next. It is a conversation that is going to be had over and again and I will be a part of it. Only, not yet – not today. Today is a day to quietly consider the indelible mark Cookie left on the parenting category and hope that the death of Cookie is not the death of dreaming out loud within this category that I love so very much.
Goodbye Cookie – and especially to all of you with whom I have worked over the years – thank you for what you have shared with me of yourselves, your creativity and your contagious energy. I look forward to our paths crossing again very soon!
Tags: publishing
October 5th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Very well said. Similar to Vogue, Cookie presented a woman all of us wanted to be. A patient, organized person who is raising smart, thoughtful children…and one who still has time to cook up a gourmet meal in 20 minutes and create elaborate birthday parties. We all know this mythical Mom doesn’t exist, and Cookie made that OK. They would reserve space for stories that dealt with child favoritism, how to deal with a diagnosis of autism, and one story in particular that moved me because of the mother’s grace (and one that I passed along to a friend who was experiencing the same thing): a story of a boy who only wanted to wear dresses. So in between the pages of fantasy meals and games and vacations, there were stories about real parenting triumphs and challenges. It was the perfect mix. Like Julia, I’m heartbroken Cookie will fold. As a Mom I loved it, and as a person who works with products in the juvenile category, I found the editorial team to be incredibly smart, creative and just plain lovely. A rare combination.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I am still in disbelief that Cookie is no longer. This post shares such poignant words on the Cookie Era. Cookie truly did leave its mark on so many mommies out there, including myself. Cookie, you will be missed!
October 5th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
As Amanda alluded to, Cookie was MY Vogue.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
It really is so sad. I feel shaken. As a subscriber from day one, I can truly say that it will be missed. Much of what I have done is a direct result of how Cookie inspired me.
It’s a cold gray day here. What’s next?
October 5th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
As both a father (of a now 4-year-old boy) and a graphic designer and brand specialist, I loved Cookie.
It was a strikingly well designed publication. They hit all the marks, typographically to photographically. It was appropriately fun and childlike without being cliche and while maintaining a very sophisticated chic. My wife was the editor for various city magazines in the metro Phoenix market for years, and she also really liked the content and the quality of it’s writing.
Unfortunately, I believe it’s the things that made Cookie so great that made it fail. As you said, Cookie was most definitely aspirational. Cookie sought to paint a picture of affluent, moneyed parenting where “summer” wasn’t just a vacation, but a verb, and where nannies aplenty. I don’t have a problem with that kind of aspirational projecting. Martha Stewart built an empire, and a fortune, by peddling a posh, unrealistic lifestyle that plenty of people aspire to. Ralph Lauren does it with Polo, and many other brands do it in their particular sectors.
I don’t think that such a thing is a problem in and of itself. Even though many comments I’ve read online were critical of Cookie for it’s “flaunting” of an unrealistic and unatainable lifestyle, I think those same readers would have been fully on board if the current recession hadn’t recalibrated our society.
So, while I agree that the recession made Cookie stale (sorry), I think the economies of it’s failure were predicated on the new emotions of our culture. Cookie could have avoided that if they were in tune with the shifting paradigms in their readers lives.
I’m sad to see a quality publication go. As a piece of design it was outstanding. From the standpoint of content, my wife and I were glad to see a parenting magazine that recognized that becoming parents didn’t mean we stopped being dynamic, fashionable, cultured individuals who still had lives beyond binkys and diapers.
I hope a publication fills the void sooner than later and does it in a way that will have staying power.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
What a lovely tribute, and spot on. I loved Cookie, I loved working with them, I loved reading them, I loved dreaming over the pages about what I’d do with a million dollars to spend on a layette.
They were also wonderfully supportive of my website and of parenting writers in the blogging space, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
I wonder if, in a different economy, they’d have been given a little more time to come through. I have confidence that they would have, but sadly, I guess we won’t know.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:57 am
It is sad to see a magazine that really tried to reach mothers in a different way fail. I also was wondering the same thing as Liz — if we were in 2002 and not 2009, Cookie would still be around, as many other magazines that are going under. As a magazine addict, I’m sorry to see them go. I think Pilar Guzman had a great vision — maybe something new from her will be on the horizon?