Spirit wins GLA plinth brief

Spirit Advertising has been chosen by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to create a public consultation advertising campaign to help decide which of six proposed sculptures should be placed on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

A series of outdoor, press and ambient ads will invite the public to vote for their favourite via a website, fourthplinth.co.uk. The campaign will use the tagline: “The Fourth Plinth Trafalgar Square. Join the Debate.” Media planning and buying will be handled by PHD. The campaign will also include a series of education events in schools. The six sculpture proposals are on show at the National Gallery until February 8, with a decision on a winner expected shortly after.

London’s Mayor, Ken Livingstone, wants the public to decide which of the six proposals, which range from Sokari Douglas Camp’s controversial “No-o-war-r No-o-war-r” to Thomas Schütte’s more conventional “Hotel for the Birds”, should be given a space in the square.

Sandy Nairne, chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, says: “We hope that Spirit will create a debate that reaches as many people as possible. Public discussion of sculpture, and the place of memorials and monuments today, is part of the process of the commission.”

This is the second GLA public consultation win for Spirit – the agency was asked to create a campaign polling Londoners on their views about a ban on cigarette smoking in public places (MW October 30).