Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, has recruited celebrities
starring in London stage shows for a poster campaign designed to
encourage people to return to the capital after the attacks on the
US.
The Greater London Authority has briefed Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper to roll
out the campaign on behalf of the London Tourist Board, which was due to
begin work on a similar task of getting UK consumers back to London and
was thought to have appointed Doner Cardwell Hawkins last month.
The 110-foot long poster features 39 show-business figures such as Joan
Collins, the former Dallas star Linda Gray, Dawn French, the former
James Bond villain Jonathan Pryce, Dennis Waterman, the singer Alison
Moyet and Dame Judi Dench - who are all starring in West End shows.
They are joined by other stars such as the ballerina Darcy Bussell, the
comic Josie Lawrence and characters from shows such as The Phantom of
the Opera, Starlight Express and Rent.
The elongated poster, which was designed for a JCDecaux site on London's
Cromwell Road, shows a chorus-line of celebrities in their various
costumes, ending with Livingstone and the strapline: "London. The
greatest show on earth." The poster can be downsized for use on any
billboard site as well as bus-sides. JCDecaux donated the site.
The campaign, which breaks on 5 December, was created to help London
businesses recover from the tourist slump following 11 September.
Research has shown that 88 per cent of businesses associated with
tourism have suffered a downturn and it is thought revenue figures for
tourism in London will fall from £9 billion to £6 billion
this year.
The ad was written and art directed by Bonnie and Charlotte Horten.
Media for the Cromwell Road site was planned in-house.
