In an unscientific poll we interviewed members of the public, pitting the two brands preparing to take on the high street banks against each other by asking "Who would you rather do your banking with?".
For those who went for Tesco the reasons were "I know more about Tesco than Virgin Money ... from television and advertising" and "Tesco's because I use Tesco's, I don't have anything to do with Virgin ... dealings I've had with Tesco in the past have all been positive".
One woman chose Tesco out of bad feeling to Virgin Media, with which she said she had a "few set-ins over her telephone".
The supermarket might have the advantage in ubiquity, but for 40-year-old Elizabeth this grated. She said: "Probably Virgin Money because I think Tesco's are just taking over the whole monopoly on things which I'm not very happy with."
Virgin is hardly an unknown brand - the appeal of Richard Branson and being a Virgin Media customer were the reasons for 55-year-old Gillian preferring it.
She also "didn't associate money with Tesco in that sense", which was a theme echoed by another woman who said she wouldn't choose either.
"I wouldn't do it with either of them, because Tesco's is known as being a supermarket, and Virgin, my telephone is Virgin Media, so I wouldn't bank with them," said 44-year-old Sally.
Aside from image, the real challenge facing the new entrants is the difficulty of getting people to move their current accounts from their existing bank.
Asked how likely they were to move their current account to either brand, four said "very unlikely" or "not very likely".
There was hope from one man who said he would move from Alliance & Leicester if the interest rate was attractive.
Another was more enthusiastic, saying: "I'd probably move my current account to either of those brands. I don't like the brands I've got at the moment. I saw an ad for Tesco's just the other day and thought 'ooh, maybe, yes'."
Vox Pops International conducted the interviews and created the video on behalf of Brand Republic.