Long before a customer feels the fabric, tries on the garment or learns the story behind a brand, they’ve already formed an opinion: from a single image, in a matter of seconds. But as Junior Style founder Aleksandra Ataca explains, a striking photograph is only the beginning. Behind every children’s brand that manages to stand out is a much bigger set of decisions: who the brand is really speaking to, what world it invites people into, and why anyone should care beyond the first glance.

We sat down with Ataca, whose work spans editorial, creative direction, photography and brand collaborations across the children’s fashion industry, to talk about what actually separates a beautiful brand from a commercially successful one. The conversation moves from the practical - building a content strategy on a limited budget, avoiding the trap of chasing every social trend - to the more searching questions shaping the industry’s future: why “cute” is no longer enough, what role human creativity plays as AI reshapes content production, and why, after everything else, relationships remain one of the few things technology can’t automate.

1. Why are professional product photoshoots so important for brands today?

Today, imagery is often the first real interaction a customer has with a brand. Before they touch the product, understand the quality of the fabric or learn the story behind it, they see an image. Within seconds, they form an opinion.

I think brands need to understand that there are different types of visual content, and each has a different job.

You need strong product photography that clearly shows what you are selling - the details, materials, colors and craftsmanship. In fashion, you need imagery that demonstrates how a garment fits and moves. With baby and lifestyle products, scale, functionality and details can be equally important.

But then there is storytelling, which serves a completely different purpose. It tells me what your brand is about and gives me an emotional reason to connect with it.

Today, people don’t simply buy items. They buy feelings, stories and a sense of belonging.

A customer may notice a beautiful dress, toy or piece of furniture, but what creates a relationship with the brand is the world built around that product. Strong visual communication needs to help me understand what I’m buying while giving me a reason to want to be part of that world.

2. How do high-quality visuals influence customer perception, brand positioning and purchasing decisions, particularly in the baby and children’s industry?

Children’s products have an interesting marketing challenge because very often the person buying the product isn’t the person using it. You are communicating with an adult while creating something for a child.

Parents are evaluating practical things - quality, functionality, safety, durability and price - but purchasing decisions are also emotional. They imagine their child wearing those clothes, playing with that toy or living within the environment presented to them.

Photography helps close the gap between the physical product and that imagination.

It also has an enormous influence on perceived value. The same product can appear premium, contemporary, traditional, playful or inexpensive depending on how it is photographed and styled.

This is why I don’t believe visual direction should come at the end, after everything else has been decided. If you describe yourself as a premium brand but your photography, packaging, website and communication tell me something different, I’m going to believe what I see, not what you tell me.

3. From your experience across editorial, creative direction, photography and brand collaborations, what separates a beautiful brand from a commercially successful one?

There are many beautiful brands. There are far fewer successful brands.

I see wonderful collections all the time, and sometimes founders understandably believe that if the product is beautiful enough, people will discover it. But a beautiful product and a beautiful Instagram account are not a business strategy.

You need to understand who your customer is, why they need you, how you are priced, where you should be sold, who your competitors are and how you’re actually going to reach people.

And sometimes I think brands invest too much in content before answering those basic questions. You can spend an enormous amount on a campaign, but if your distribution isn’t working or your pricing doesn’t make sense for your customer, beautiful photography isn’t going to solve the problem.

Working across different sides of the industry has made this very clear to me. As an editor, I look for whether there is something interesting enough to talk about. As a creative director, I think about how to translate the identity visually. From a marketing perspective, I ask how the message reaches the right people. And commercially, eventually somebody needs to buy the product.

Creativity gets attention. Strategy gives that attention somewhere to go.

4. How are brands evolving the way they present products through styling, storytelling, compositions, color palettes and product combinations?

The brands I find most interesting are becoming less literal.

Instead of asking only, “How do we photograph this dress?” they ask, “What world does this dress belong to?”

That opens many more creative possibilities. Fashion can interact with architecture, interiors, toys, food, art or completely unexpected everyday objects. Color can become part of the narrative instead of simply coordinating with the collection.

I personally love a little tension in an image - something slightly unexpected that makes you look twice.

An intricate children’s dress doesn’t automatically need ballet flats and a romantic background. Maybe it becomes much more interesting with boots and contemporary architecture. A very minimal product can benefit from something humorous or exaggerated around it.

And especially in children’s fashion, I would love to see us move further away from the idea that everything has to be “cute.” Children are funny, strange, intelligent, dramatic, rebellious and imaginative. When you allow those personalities into the image, the result becomes much more interesting.

5. Social media has become one of the most important touchpoints for brands and retailers. What makes visual storytelling effective there today?

For me, effective social storytelling is no longer one perfect campaign photograph repeated everywhere.

The strongest brands create a world and then allow us to experience different pieces of it. You might see the hero campaign, then a detail of the fabric, a fitting, a child moving in the clothes, the designer talking about an idea, a backstage moment or something funny that happened during production.

Together, those fragments make the brand feel alive.

I also don’t believe consistency means making every Instagram post look identical. Sometimes brands become so focused on creating the perfect feed that the result feels sterile.

And I think follower count has become much less interesting as a measure of brand value. I would rather see a smaller audience that understands the brand, interacts with it and eventually becomes a customer or advocate than a huge number that doesn’t translate into anything meaningful.

You should be recognizable because of your point of view, not because every photograph uses the same filter.

6. What advice would you give brands and boutiques looking to create more engaging social media content?

Ask yourself a very simple question: Why should someone follow your account?

And then take it one step further: Why should they buy this product from you and not from somebody else?

If you have a clear answer to those questions - and you have people who understand it, believe in it and support what you’re doing - congratulations. You are already building something much more valuable than a social media following. You are building a community around your brand.

For me, that is what social media should ultimately do. It shouldn’t be only a broadcasting tool where you continuously show people products and ask them to buy. Give people a reason to participate, respond, share, return and feel connected to what you’re creating.

Especially in the children’s industry, there is a natural opportunity for community because your audience shares many common experiences and interests. Listen to your customers. Feature them. Respond to them. Ask questions. Give them a reason to feel involved.

Then, instead of beginning every week with, “What should we post today?”, start with: “What do we want people to associate with us?”

I think brands sometimes produce content simply because platforms demand constant activity. But more content isn’t automatically better content. Constantly posting without a clear idea can actually dilute a brand.

I would also approach production differently. A photoshoot shouldn’t result in ten photographs and nothing else. Think about the entire content ecosystem before you shoot: campaign imagery, vertical video, details, movement, behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, styling ideas and spontaneous or educational content. You already have the products, location, models and creative team together, so use that opportunity intelligently.

And don’t feel obligated to participate in every social trend. If the same audio, editing style and visual references are being used by fifty other brands, ask yourself whether joining them actually makes you more visible — or simply makes you look like everybody else.

Don’t use social media simply to collect followers. Give people a reason to follow you in the first place.

7. Many brands struggle to stand out in an overcrowded digital landscape. What mistakes do you see most often?

Looking sideways too much.

Brands see something successful and immediately want their version of it. They collect references from competitors, reproduce similar campaigns and follow the same trends. Eventually everyone starts looking interchangeable.

Another mistake is assuming expensive production equals strong creative direction. You can have an extraordinary location, beautiful models, expensive equipment and a large team and still create something completely forgettable.

Sometimes a clever idea photographed very simply is much stronger.

I also see brands trying to communicate everything in one image - too many products, props, colors and messages. Editing is a creative skill too. Knowing what to remove can be as important as knowing what to add.

And with children specifically, don’t direct every expression. Give them an environment, an idea or something to interact with and leave space for something unexpected. Very often, that’s where the image comes from.

8. What should a children’s brand invest in first if it has a very limited marketing budget?

First, clarity. Know who you are and who you’re speaking to before spending money trying to reach everyone.

And one thing I would say very clearly: if you decide to create a brand, include marketing in your budget from the beginning.

I hear it all the time: “Once we start making sales and establish the brand, then we’ll invest in marketing.” But how are you going to establish the brand and generate those sales if nobody knows you exist?

You may have the most beautiful, innovative and unique product, but that alone doesn’t mean people will discover it. You have already invested in design, development, production, packaging and inventory. If you leave nothing for communicating and marketing what you created, all of that effort risks going nowhere.

Marketing shouldn’t be something you add once the business becomes successful. It is part of what gives the business a chance to become successful in the first place.

That doesn’t mean you need an enormous marketing budget. If resources are limited, you need to be smarter and more creative with them.

Create a small number of strong visual assets that can work hard for you across your website, social media, wholesale materials, presentations and press outreach. And when the budget is genuinely small, my biggest advice is: collaborate.

Maybe there is a photographer who wants to expand their portfolio and you have a beautiful collection. Maybe a young model dreams of participating in a campaign. A stylist wants to experiment. A magazine needs content. There are many people who may need something you already have.

But collaboration needs to be an exchange. Don’t only ask, “What can this person do for me?” Think about what you can offer them in return.

And make the proposal clear.

As an editor, I receive many messages saying, “We love what you do and would love to do something together.” Sometimes I genuinely like the brand and would be happy to help, but what is “something”? Now I have to invent the project, understand what you need from me and figure out why it makes sense.

It’s completely different when someone says: this is who we are, this is our idea, this is why we think it fits Junior Style, this is what we’d like from you, and this is what we can bring to the project.

That makes it very easy for me to understand whether I can say yes.

A limited budget can make you creative; having no plan for marketing at all is something very different.

9. From your perspective as an editor and creative director, what makes a brand attractive to press, buyers, retailers and potential collaborators?

Of course you need something interesting to offer, but people dramatically underestimate basic professional skills.

Fashion looks very glamorous from the outside. People imagine photoshoots, beautiful clothes, events and travel. In reality, a surprisingly large percentage of this industry consists of emails and Excel tables.

There are schedules, budgets, samples, shipping, credits, line sheets, deadlines and follow-ups. There are many boring moments behind every beautiful result.

You can be extremely creative, but if you don’t answer emails, provide information on time, understand a brief or communicate clearly, eventually people won’t want to work with you.

I also see brands sending exactly the same pitch to everyone. But an editor, buyer, stylist, retailer and influencer don’t need the same information.

Before approaching someone, ask yourself: Why this person? What exactly am I asking for? And why would it be interesting for them?

Creativity may open a door. Professionalism is usually what gets you invited back.

10. How should brands balance commercial content that sells products with more conceptual or editorial storytelling?

You need both because they answer different questions.

Commercial content tells me what I’m buying. What does it look like? How does it fit? What are the details? How can I use it?

Editorial storytelling answers something less practical: Why do I want it? Why do I remember this brand? How does this brand make me feel?

Not every image needs to generate an immediate sale. I think our obsession with measuring every piece of content by instant conversion sometimes makes marketing very short-sighted. An image can create recognition or desire that becomes commercially valuable much later.

The same applies to marketing in general. One publication, one campaign, one influencer collaboration or one promotional action is very unlikely to transform a brand. In fact, isolated actions without a larger plan can become a waste of resources.

Marketing needs to be a strategy and a consistent system. Different actions should support each other over time — your imagery, social media, PR, editorial placements, collaborations, events and communication should all be building toward the same positioning. Repetition and consistency are what allow people to first discover you, then recognize you, remember you and eventually trust you enough to buy.

At the same time, beautiful storytelling without commercial thinking can become an expensive art project.

You need to understand what job each piece of content is supposed to do — and how it contributes to the bigger picture.

11. Looking ahead to 2027, what visual trends do you expect to see in brand lookbooks and product photography?

I think authenticity will become more valuable precisely because artificial perfection is becoming so accessible.

We’re entering a moment where technically beautiful imagery can be created incredibly quickly. Being polished is no longer enough to be interesting.

I expect more cinematic storytelling, movement, unconventional cropping, imperfect moments and compositions that feel discovered rather than overly constructed. I also think brands will mix formats much more freely - campaign photography, documentary images, video stills, details, backstage material and AI-generated elements can all exist within the same visual universe.

I think we’ll also move further away from the very rigid idea of a seasonal lookbook. Content is becoming much more fluid and continuous.

The interesting contradiction is that the more sophisticated technology becomes, the more valuable something unmistakably human may feel.

12. With AI making sophisticated content faster and more accessible, where does human creativity become more valuable?

I don’t see AI as the enemy of creativity. It’s a tool, and an extraordinary one.

But when everyone has access to tools capable of producing technically impressive imagery, technical perfection stops being special.

So the value moves toward the idea - and toward taste.

Someone still has to decide why an image should exist, what it communicates, whether it belongs to that brand and whether anyone should care about it. I think curiosity, cultural knowledge, humor and the ability to connect unexpected references will become even more important.

And when you’re working with children, there is another element I don’t want technology to remove: unpredictability.

A child misunderstands your direction, suddenly laughs, invents something or moves completely differently from what you planned - and sometimes that’s the best photograph of the day.

For me, AI versus human creativity is the wrong conversation. The more interesting question is what creative people will do when these tools become part of everyday work.

13. If you could give one piece of advice to children’s fashion and baby product brands preparing for the future, what would it be?

Never underestimate the value of human relationships.

We talk constantly about algorithms, social media, AI, marketing strategies and new technology. All of these things matter. But after many years working in this industry, I still believe relationships are one of the most valuable assets you can build.

Platforms change. Algorithms change. Trends disappear. Companies grow, people change positions, careers evolve. A genuine professional relationship can follow you for years in ways you could never predict.

And I don’t mean “networking” in the superficial sense of collecting contacts or talking to people because you think they might be useful one day.

I mean relationships built on trust, respect and generosity.

Someone you meet today as a young photographer may become an important creative director tomorrow. An emerging designer may build an incredible company. An assistant may become a buyer or editor. But that shouldn’t be why you treat people well anyway.

Support people when you can. Make introductions. Give credit. Answer messages. Be reliable. Say thank you. And remember the people who supported you when there was no obvious advantage for them in doing so.

I actually think technology makes this even more important. The more things we automate, the more valuable genuine human connection becomes.

You can automate many things. Trust, reputation and real relationships still have to be built person by person.

Closing Thoughts 

What emerges from this conversation with Aleksandra Ataca isn’t just a set of tips on better photography, it’s a reminder that visual strategy, brand positioning and human connection are inseparable. In a market as competitive and emotionally charged as children’s fashion, the brands that endure won’t be the ones chasing every trend or producing the most content. They’ll be the ones with a clear point of view, a genuine story, and the professionalism and relationships to carry that story forward.

As CBME Türkiye continues to bring together the region’s most exciting names in baby, children’s and maternity products, conversations like this one are a reminder of what truly sets a brand apart in a crowded market, not just what you show, but why you’re showing it, and who you’re building it with.