Jetta and Kiddie Kandids....

Last year we decided to sign Jetta up with a local modeling agency and this past August they contacted us with Jetta's first professional modeling job. A local company in St. Louis, CPI contacted them and wanted to hire Jetta for a winter ad campaign for Kiddie Kandids.

I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but was excited to get the call, but nervous at the same time. We only had a few days to get ready and beings it was mid-August and they were doing a winter ad, I was hoping I had something that would work for a winter shoot. They asked that we bring a minimum of 3 outfits and no more than 5. I was thinking, I'm glad Jetta hadn't grown alot since the past winter and that I had shopped so much in the 3 years that I waited for her.

I went home that night and went through the tubs of clothes I have in the basement, both from the prior winter season and the tubs for the upcoming winter season and was able to pull together what I believed would be 5 outfits. The only thing I really needed were tights and was hopeful that maybe Old Navy would come through for me on that. Jetta was a bit confused why she was trying on winter clothes when she was running around in shorts and sandals.

The next night we did go shopping and were lucky enough to find some tights and thank goodness that's all we needed cuz they didn't have anything winter related out yet, despite you can go to other stores and buy Christmas stuff, but not winter clothes in August I guess. I'm just happy she hadn't grown much and many of her 12 month clothes still fit and the 18 month stuff I did have wasn't to big. Once we got home I spent time ironing and preparing for the big day.

We got up early and got a bath and headed into St. Louis, not knowing exactly what to expect. We had the first appointment of the day. All I knew was they had two days of photo shoots and once they were done they would then decide which kids they would select for the actual campaign. So, despite being chosen for the shoot, there was no gaurantee that we would actually make the cut. Once we got there, they looked through our outfits and chose a red dress that I had brought along and we got started.

The ladies were all very nice and they really meshed well with Jetta. Of course since we were the first of the day, there were a few hiccups with the props and backdrops, but Jetta handled it all well and she was in a great mood for the entire shoot. Kiddie Kandids is the company that works with Babies R Us and they take photos within the Babies R Us stores. Not all stores actually have the photo studios within them, but many of them do. I believe they are trying to expand this part of the business, so watch for them to possibly come to your area if they are not already there.

As the morning progressed they took about 70 pictures of Jetta and spent about an hour and a half with her. Once the hour and half started to get close to that finishing point Jetta started to wear down and they said when does she normally take a nap and she had started to come over to me and was starting to put her thumb in her mouth and I said, well about now and I pretty much think she's done and they said, let's call it, I think we've got enough. They were very respectful of the time and of her. I was very happy with them. They were great and I would definitely work with them again given the opportunity.

Once we were done we had no idea when or if we would hear from them again. After about a month and half I called over to CPI, the company who took the pictures and asked if there would be any way I could get any of the photos they had taken of her since it was her first photo shoot and they called me back that day. In speaking with the marketing manager, he asked who my daughter was and I told him. He said, he wasn't sure if would be able to and that it was ironic that I was calling that day, because they were actually deciding over the next two days which children they were going to be using in the ad campaign and that he would probably need a couple of days to determine if he could provide me with a disc of any of the images and also if they would be using my daughter.

To my surprise he called me back within 40 minutes and left me a message. He said that he would be able to provide me with a disc and that they would definitely be using Jetta for the campaign and would be using her in all 3 medias....internet, in-store and direct mailings. At this time I have been able to see several of the internet ads both on their website (www.kiddiekandids.com) - when they first released the ad campaign on November 1st (where she has 2 images), then a recent ad for 20% of a collage print (where you'll notice her name is Bella - creative huh...not Jetta which I guess they probaby can't use her real name and I'd rather they not, but fully they say Bella), then we have been able to see poster and translucents in two of the local stores in St. Louis(which I'll include the pictures we took), but unable to actual see any direct mailers. I had asked for a direct mailer, but at this point have not seen one(and don't want to be that mom that bothers CPI and never get another job!).

So, as you can imagine I am a very proud mommy. I have showed Jetta herself on the Kiddie Kandids website and she says "who are those kids and then she'll see herself and say, there I am and then as it cycles through, she'll say, here comes Jetta"....it's very cute. Then I showed her the recent ad and she said, that's me. When we were at the store, she says "that's me" and just smiles. I don't think she understands, but realizes it's her. Again, we have no idea if this is her first, only or last ever, but it is very exciting and we are very proud of her. The only reason we ever even signed her up for this was for the opportunity to save for college.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and some of the ad material. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to share the whole story with you. As always thanks for following along. These are just some of the pics, as I don't want to bore you with all 70 images!