The divorce of Lloyds and TSB - who got custody of the pointy-nosed children?
02/10/2013
Author: Victoria Jones
It’s now been a month since one of the biggest high-street banks, Lloyds TSB, was forced by an EU ruling to split into two companies – Lloyds and TSB.
We have been watching this closely as a design agency, very interested to see what each branch does with their branding. None of us were really fans of the old branding – the bizarre pointy-nosed family felt a little patronising and childish, not particularly want you want from a bank.
TSB have reclaimed their logo from before they were swallowed up by Lloyds in 1995, but with an updated edge. A sans-serif font and circles in various shades of blue definitely make it feel more up-to-date. Their new TV advert, while gorgeously animated in both 2D and 3D simultaneously, feels more like an advert for a Disney film than a bank.
Lloyds, however, have definitely grown up. They have also refreshed their ‘black horse’ logo to a simple black and white – taking away the blue and green background (and another sans-serif font change) has kept them bang on the ‘minimal’ logo trend. The new brand visuals include prominent photography – crisp, contemporary photos focussing on real people of all ages. This entices more of a response from consumers, meaning that Lloyds are using people’s emotions to sell to them. The emotions they seem to be focussing on are hope and security – photos of happy families or aspirational cars, holidays and self employment. They have overlaid these lovely photos with large, bold phrases (‘change’, ‘build’, ‘discover’ etc) followed by promises of helpful bank.
What do you think of the new branding of Lloyds and TSB – and who got the best deal out of the divorce? And where did the pointy-nosed family go?
Article by Victoria
