Imaginary Friends
November 20th, 2009 by Bryan P. Sears
You don’t have to be 5 years old to have an imaginary friend.
County Executive Jim Smith has one and wants you to meet her.
Meet Merrie Holiday, Baltimore County’s resident holiday shopping maven.
Fronda Cohen, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Economic Development, was coy about exactly who or what Merrie Holiday is other than to say it’s part of a new marketing effort to encourage residents to shop in some of the 3,000 shops in the county’s 13 traditional retail districts — Arbutus, Catonsville-Paradise, Dundalk, Essex, Lansdowne, Liberty Road, Loch Raven, Overlea-Fullerton, Parkville, Pikesville, Reisterstown, Towson and Woodlawn Village.
The campaign, which is part of the county’s ReDiscover Your Neighborhood Downtown promotion, was designed by Barb Clapp Advertising and Marketing. The character will be featured in radio and print ads and some short videos of Smith running around the county trying to find the elusive personality.
The Lutherville-based advertising company was awarded the contract for the ReDiscover Your Neighborhood Downtown campaign in 2008. This is the second renewal year and the company will be paid $107,500.
Merrie even has her own Facebook page, part of a social media marketing effort that began on Wednesday. Her photo conveniently obscures her face.
“She’s a woman of mystery,” Cohen teased, adding that “a real human being” responds to posts on the Facebook page.
Already Holiday has 66 friends. Not bad for a few days. I know someone whose cat has been on Facebook for a year and has 68 friends. And that cat is real.
If the marketing campaign sounds kitschy, remember it could be worse.
At least it’s not a six-foot tall rabbit named Harvey.


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