 Ever wonderd how we became known as Charm City? * Here are a few clues: * "Charm City" is an example of a coined city nickname that has stuck. One article below gives a 1975 date, but it's clearly from 1974. Ad man Bill Evans coined it. *
.......20 August 1992, Daily Record (Baltimore, MD), pg. 3: After more than 30 years as the creative force behind Baltimore's biggest, and most colorful advertising agencies, Bill Evans, the man who nicknamed Baltimore "Charm City" is taking down his dart board. *
Evans, who is retiring this week as chairman emeritus of Gray Kirk/VanSant, was the point man for a creative team that local advertising executives say brought Baltimore its first national industry recognition. (...) * Evans also gets the credit for coining Baltimore's ersatz nickname, "Charm City". In the late 1970s, before the Inner Harbor, Evans was assigned to help Baltimore polish its image with tourists. With little more than Ft. McHenry to bring people here, that proved to be no easy task, he said. *
"Decaying wharfs, rats, hoboes. That was downtown Baltimore. It was pretty bad looking," he recalled. *
Evans decided the city could direct visitors to other "Charm City" landmarks - parks, churches, Fort Mc Henry, Washington Monument, Memorial Stadium - by offering a charm bracelet at a tourist information center. *
At each site, visitors could pick up a new charm for their bracelets. The city liked the Charm City moniker, but backed off the bracelet idea. Even though the campaign is long dead, the nickname still sticks.
Hope this helps!!!
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