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Religion

Products chosen for their good messages

By GAIL HOLLENBECK
Published March 18, 2006

When Scott Jenkin was looking for business opportunities, he felt that JustMe!Music, featuring the Christian-based Veggie Tales characters, was the perfect choice.

"We feel that we're in a Christian ministry," Jenkin said. "No. 1, Veggie Tales are by far our bestseller. They outsell the Wiggles and Barney two to one. No. 2, we're in business to help kids and enrich families."

Jenkin said while not necessarily Christian-based, the Wiggles and Barney encourage good morals and are wholesome family entertainment.

"When Hit Entertainment, that owns the Wiggles, approached us about two years ago and said they'd like us to do for their characters what we'd done for Veggie Tales, our CEO prayerfully considered it," Jenkin said. "He met with them many times, even going to Australia and spending two weeks with the Wiggles and their families to make sure they were men of good character.

"He was satisfied they were. Of course, they're musically based and that's important when you're working with audio CDs. The other one we chose was Barney because Barney seems to be very enduring, and he has good values.

"So we chose two characters that we thought were wholesome and that promoted family values and researched them carefully. It was a franchise that we thought we could represent without compromising our message."

JustMe!Music has four CDs, two Veggie Tales and one each of the Wiggles and Barney, and a Veggie Tales book available.

The CDs and books are all personalized to a particular child. JustMe!Music has more than 4,600 names already professionally recorded by the Wiggles or the Veggie Tales and Barney characters. Once you select the name you want, it is added into the CD or book.

"The Wiggles have said and sung every one of those names that is on their list," Jenkin explained. "The same thing with Barney and Baby Bop and BJ on the Barney album and the same thing with the Veggie Tales.

"So these are not just simply like the CDs out there that the computer makes up the sounds and inserts it. We believe the quality is a lot higher because these are actually recorded in studio, professionally produced."

The items can be personalized right at Jenkin's booth.

"I have an individual hard drive in each one of my computers that has all of these tracks, all of these finished albums on them," he said. "We not only personalize it with the voices, but because we print our own labels right then and there, I can spell the child's name any way that you want."

With your e-mail address and the child's birth date, each year Jenkin also will send the child a personalized animated greeting card three days before his birthday, from whichever character of CD you purchased.

The book is personalized with your child's name and is printed and bound in about a half an hour.

"Currently book six is in production in that series," Jenkin said. "Every two months, the child receives the next book in the series. It is also personalized not only with the child's name but with the personality that the parent has chosen.

"That way their child is the hero of the story right alongside with Bob and Larry in their adventure, and the hero has the personality that the parent has chosen. We're the only ones out there that do that."

CDs cost $24.95 each or three for $60. You can mix and match them to more than one child. After purchasing three, they are all $19.95, even if you purchase more at a future date.

Books are $29.95. If you sign up for the book series, there is a $5 discount off the price of the book that you buy at the cart and every two months the next book in the series will come in the mail and will only cost $20. You can cancel any time.

Jenkin will have his cart in the Riggs Building at the Citrus County Fair Monday through March 25.

"We'll have 52 giant signs with Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber," Jenkin said, "I'm kind of hard to miss."

[Last modified March 18, 2006, 02:30:29]