The Barclays ads, which break on Friday through Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), star actor Samuel L Jackson delivering monologues on issues that surround money, such as secrecy and evasiveness.
Gulliford said Barclays aims to differentiate itself from other advertisers by "concentrating on brain power". He said: "The customer is cleverer than we give him credit for and there is a trend for advertisers to dumb things down to the lowest common denominator."
He attacked financial advertisers in particular for their approach to advertising, citing rival Lloyds TSB's ads, featuring Cold Feet star John Thompson and actress Joely Richardson, as an example of "fluff and candy stuff".
He rejected the argument that consumers need 'hand-holding' and said the success of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books and ITV's heavy-weight drama The Forsyte Saga showed "people rise to the challenge".
Former Emap marketer Gulliford caused a stir last year by moving Barclays' advertising from Leagas Delaney to BBH without a pitch, shortly after his appointment as group marketing director. The bank's previous ads had been slated for boasting about how 'big' it was at the same time as it was closing rural branches.
That campaign used actors Anthony Hopkins and Robbie Coltrane. Gulliford argues that the use of Jackson is more effective because he is not portrayed as a spokesperson for Barclays, but is used as an engaging personality to trigger debate about money.
Gulliford handed BBH a tight brief to convey Barclays' expertise through advertising. "The Leagas Delaney ads focused on muscle power and I've tried to move away from using power this way to show Barclays' strength is that it knows about money."
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