The black horse will form the basis of an epic advertising campaign to launch a current account that offers the highest interest rate of any high-street bank -- 3.2%.
Datamonitor figures released earlier this month revealed that HBOS, with its highly acclaimed "Who gives you Xtra?" campaign for Halifax, seized 25% of all new accounts in 2002.
Abbey National, which has just launched a campaign starring actor Martin Kemp, is also making inroads into the market share of the "big four" players -- Lloyds TSB, HSBC, Barclays and NatWest.
Lloyds, still the biggest UK bank by customer numbers, is desperate to protect its market leadership.
The ads, which will be overseen by Lloyds' recently appointed director of group marketing, Helen Stevenson, will mark the first time the black horse has been central to Lloyds' advertising since 1987.
At a time when branding is becoming a crucial tool in the notoriously commoditised world of financial services, the bank hopes the black horse will convey the "power, strength and stature" of its brand.
The first spot in a series of executions created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R breaks during 'Footballers' Wives' on ITV1 tonight Wednesday. It depicts herds of horses stampeding at night through tunnels, over hedges and down terraced streets. Their destination is Piccadilly Circus, where they gather beneath a neon sign flashing up "3.2% AER" -- the interest rate available on the bank's current account. A national press campaign will follow from March 2.
Alan Gilmour, Lloyds TSB's brand and sponsorship director, said that after Lloyds merged with TSB in 1995, the black horse had to "take a step back" to allow the new brand to become established, but now it was a household name, the horse could return.
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