We've had the Berlin Bears and Liverpool Superlambananas, now meet the Wolvo Wolves

Well how about the Wolves of Wolvo?

It trips off the tongue perfectly and the brains behind this unusual sculpture scheme are hoping it will have Wolverhampton howling all the way to the bank.

The idea is a simple one: build some cute sculptures, get celebrities to paint them, put them by famous landmarks and watch the selfie-snapping tourists flock.

See also: Wolves to howl across city

Up to 40 giant 6ft sculptures could soon be placed by Molineux, the Grand Theatre, Civic Hall and St Peter's Church, with local stars such as Denise Lewis and Suzi Perry earmarked to get involved and decorate them,

After a few months, the sculptures would then be sold off for charity.

In Bristol, where dozens of Gromits from the animated TV series attracted 900,000 tourists, they sold for £2.3 million at auction. An economic boost of £7m is predicted for Wolverhampton.

And if that sounds wildly optimistic, then figures seen in other parts of the country back it up.

Norwich did elephants and the city's John Lewis store was the busiest in the country during the last week the sculptures were standing. Sandwich shop Pret a Manger reported a 16 per cent increase in sales purely because they sponsored one of the elephants.

During the Pride of Northampton project - lions, obviously - an extra 25,000 people descended on the town on the first day. And businesses reported an increased turnover of 14 per cent during the 10-week project. Council bosses in the town said the impact of positivity and civic pride generated would be felt for years to come.

Dr Paul Darke runs disability art charity Outside Centre in Wolverhampton, which is behind the scheme.

He is sourcing external funding to get the sculptures built and is hoping to attract as much attention as possible to garner support from community groups, organisations and celebrities.

"It should be a fantastic project and we're keen to get as many people involved as possible," he said. "We're looking at where the sculptures will be made but it will hopefully be in the Midlands."

The sculptures - which will depict a wolf sitting down - will be distinctively painted and decorated by schoolchildren, competition winners, business employees and local celebrities.

Cities across the globe - including Sydney, Montreal and Amsterdam - have done similar things.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery boss Corinne Miller visited the Montreal Moose project some years ago. She said the it would help put Wolverhampton on the map and also have a big impact on the city's art scene.

"In many places it's had a huge artistic impact, these projects are incredibly popular," she said. "You need to get some great artists involved, as well as the community - it needs an eclectic mix of people really.

"We do already have our own wolf, inside a mechanical sheep, at the gallery and I think one of the planned wolves would complement that very nicely."

It is hoped the project will have a lasting legacy in the city.

Dr Darke added: "Elsewhere they've auctioned off the sculptures and the money's gone to a local charity to do a project of a similar size, which is what we're hoping to do.

"It would be great to get local celebrities involved - in London they did Olympic mascots and Stephen Fry did one, Joanna Lumley did another."

The project is scheduled to run from May to September in 2016.