Lloyds TSB raises spend for 'customer first work'

MARKETING - 05 January 2005

Lloyds TSB is to increase its marketing spend by almost a third this year to £25m as it rolls out a customer-focused advertising strategy intended to establish it as a personal, modern bank.

The first activity will air on 7 January (Friday) as part of a £7m campaign supporting the 'You first' line, which was first revealed by Marketing  last summer (23 June 2004). It will form part of a yearlong heavyweight promotion of Lloyds' entire portfolio of customer services, including for the first time, its online banking, which relaunched in September.

The 'You first' strategy will see the advertising focus move away from the iconic black horse, which the bank revived in 2003 to front its ads after a 16-year break. It will now appear only briefly in the TV spots.

Lloyds TSB group marketing director Helen Stevenson said the bank had previously been 'product- and brand-focused' but now it had to address the customer. Lloyds TSB spent £19m on advertising last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The new campaign, created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, will include a heavyweight outdoor and press element, which has been planned and bought by ZenithOptimedia. As part of the overhaul, Lloyds TSB will roll out its distinctive blue and green branding more prominently across its 2000 branches. Brand identity work has been handled by Rufus Leonard.

Separately, Lloyds TSB's Insurance arm has appointed Mark Hanson to the new role of head of marketing. He joins from AXA Sunlife, where he was head of marketing services. At AXA, Hanson was responsible for developing the company's multimillion-pound e-commerce capability.

In a trading update issued on 13 December, Lloyds TSB revealed that it expected to post a pre-tax profit of £3.3bn for 2004.