Weeks before their birth, the Tetrick quadruplets already had their very own professionally designed logo. And Web site. And advertising agency.
Before tiny Peyton, Parker, Camden and Christian -- a rare two sets of identical twins -- entered the world, their parents launched an unusual public relations blitz that portrays the joy of a suddenly large family and the distress of the financial burden due.
Christina and Patrick Tetrick hired Lottridge Advertising of Wichita to solicit corporate donations and to arrange media interviews.
Their goal is simple: Use the rarity of having two sets of identical twins, the more general oddity of having quadruplets and their financial plight to lure advertisers and help the family stay afloat.
Across town at Via Christi Medical Center, Sondra and Eldon Headrick were also dealing with the media frenzy generated by the birth of their sextuplets one day after the Tetrick boys were born April 5. The Headricks said they would not hire an ad agency to represent them.
Commotion over multiple births -- quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets -- isn't new. Generous neighbors and businesses often help newly enlarged families with room additions, outfitted minivans and months- or yearlong supplies of diapers.
But those offering help usually seek out the family in need, making the Tetricks' effort an interesting twist.
"We are not interested in making money out of our kids," Christina Tetrick says. "We are just interested in keeping our house."
The couple bought a two-bedroom home just days before learning they would have quadruplets. (Doctors said the odds of having two sets of identical twins are 1 in 25 million.)
Their income, meanwhile, has dropped by 60 percent, they say. Christina, formerly employed as a construction engineer, can't work while raising four infants, and Patrick has had to take a leave from his regular job because his Army Reserve unit has been activated as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He is a master sergeant with the Hutchinson-based 346th Military Police Company, but his military pay is smaller than his civilian salary.
So the Tetricks hired Lottridge, and a media campaign was born:
-- Hundreds of buttons emblazoned with the babies' red-white-and-blue logo -- four tiny footprints forming a circle around a star -- were printed.
-- The logo was printed on cigar bands and put around 75 blue bubble gum cigars, many given to reporters at a news conference at Wesley Medical Center. Even press passes sported the logo.
-- The Web site is a bright splash of red, white and blue with pictures of the children and their latest news. One silhouette graphic features four tiny babies and Mom, joined by what looks like a soldier carrying a rifle.
-- After their birth, the ad agency made up 70 T-shirts to distribute to the doctors and nurses as well as the soldiers in Dad's reserve unit. "Welcome the Tetrick Quadruplets," the shirts say, complete with their birth date and names.
"We thought it was a nice little gesture, something that hadn't happened before -- something to give to people who have given so much time and energy," said Jerry Pierce of Lottridge Advertising.
Pierce said all the promotional items were donated by the agency to the family. "They are concerned about honest-to-goodness keeping the lights on."
RSS