Circus wins Government brief to push cycling

The Department for Transport (DfT) has appointed Circus to develop a new campaign to encourage people to cycle.

The move comes weeks after London mayor Ken Livingstone’s congestion charge came into force.

The brief for the agency will include developing key messages to place and maintain cycling on the national agenda. The campaign will lead to other marketing initiatives, such as the creation of a website to support consumers interested in cycling; a skills development initiative aimed at young people at local level; and activities around other initiatives, such as congestion charging.

The Government has asked the agency to present recommendations about developing the new campaign in late spring.

DfT’s programme to encourage people to cycle has already gained the approval of cycling groups such as British Cycling, the governing body for competitive cycling; Sustrans, a transport charity; CTC, a general cycling information organisation; and National Byway, an NGO that develops and sustains Britain’s heritage cycle routes. The Association of Cycle Traders and retailer Halfords have also endorsed the programme.

A senior associate at Circus, Andrew Croasdale says: “We want to work with the cycling community to encourage more people to cycle.”