Electronic Retailer - December 2011 - 26

Pillow Pet Talk
BY VITISIA PAYNICH

Jennifer Telfer, entrepreneur and inventor of Pillow Pets, goes on the record about inventing one of today’s most popular kids’ products.

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PHOTOS BY BRIAN DAVIS

Every night in households across the U.S., little boys and girls are lying peacefully in their cozy beds, with their head resting comfortably on their favorite plush animal pillow. Little do they realize that these fuzzy critters, known as Pillow Pets, are the brainchild of Jennifer Telfer, CEO of CJ Products, Inc. These cuddly animals burst onto the direct response scene two years ago and, since then, have become a marketing phenomenon in the kids’ products category. In fact, Pillow Pets ranked No. 8 in Jordan Whitney’s Top 100 Traditional Short-Form Spots for 2010 and reached No. 1 in the entertainment category on IMS’ list of Top Categories in Annual Cable Spot Rankings for 2010-2011. What does Telfer, an inventor and entrepreneur, think about all the hype surrounding this bestselling DR product? Electronic Retailer spoke one-on-one with the chief executive to learn about the inspiration behind Pillow Pets, her entrée into direct response marketing and what lies ahead for the popular brand.

Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Spirit
Telfer’s father, an entrepreneur, supported her business aspirations at a very early age. By 10 years old, she was already working alongside him. “I actually come from a family of entrepreneurs,” she notes. “My older brother and my older sister are both entrepreneurs too – so I would say it’s in our blood.” By age 12, she was working for a family member in the retail sector and remained with that company until she turned 21. Telfer shifted her attention toward community college, where she studied design for two years. Eventually, she pursued her entrepreneurial goals in 1996 when she and her husband, Clint, used their $800 savings to form CJ

Products in San Diego, Calif. The couple attended wholesale shows in search of the hottest children’s products and retail products on the market to sell them in mall kiosks during the holiday shopping season. That first year, the company grossed around $50,000. However, fate would take a much different turn in 2002 when Telfer and her husband lost $250,000 while marketing another product under the CJ Products label. The financial loss was devastating to their business, but fate would once again take another dramatic turn. That same year, Telfer had a unique idea. “My oldest son had a stuffed animal that he would always sleep with,” she recalls. “It started to wear out and that’s when I came up with the concept that I could make a plush item that functioned as a pillow.” Telfer created a few designs – a dog, ladybug and frog – for a product she named Pillow Pets, and began selling them in kiosks during the 2003 holiday season. However, she and her husband encountered a few obstacles early on. “Nobody knew the name Pillow Pets or the concept behind it. Parents would walk by and pull their kids away from our cart, saying, ‘No, you don’t need anymore stuffed animals,’” explains Telfer. “Our biggest challenge was getting people to stop to actually see that it was a functional item.” Once she refined the product’s sales pitch and clearly communicated its benefits, parents eventually loved the idea too. Telfer didn’t rely solely on mall kiosk sales; she began selling Pillow Pets at home shows just days after the holiday

Jennifer Telfer began selling Pillow Pets in 2003 in mall kiosks and at home shows, and the popular kids’ product took DR by storm in 2009.

electronicRETAILER | December 2011

Electronic Retailer - December 2011

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