A campaign hoped to breathe new life into Newcastle and its businesses was launched yesterday with the backing of entrepreneurs, shop owners and even a rock star.

Wallsend-born pop legend Sting appears in one of a series of four television adverts, alongside shoppers, businesses, artists and families, as part of a bid to sell the attractions of the region's capital to a wider public.

The Get Into Newcastle campaign is hoped to change the city's image from a hard-drinking, party town into a cosmopolitan centre with cultural, commercial and family attractions.

It has been organised by the city centre Business Improvement District (BID) management company Newcastle NE1 which is paid for by Newcastle businesses on an annual stipend.

The ads will start to appear in newspapers and magazines, as well as radio and television, trains and buses from the end of this month.