With dry corporate clichés left at the door, the banking giant’s latest work champions cinematic storytelling, relatable humour and a very familiar voiceover to attract talent beyond finance.
If you’ve ever woken up on a Monday morning questioning your life choices, you’re not alone. In fact, Lloyds Bank is betting on that shared dread in its new recruitment campaign, developed by creative agency EveryFriday, putting a humorous twist on the traditional 9–5 narrative.
Launching as part of Lloyds Banking Group’s largest transformation to date, the campaign is designed to challenge outdated perceptions of life in finance and aims to show that working in banking doesn’t have to be all pinstripes and spreadsheets. Instead, EveryFriday has served up a slice of Monday morning malaise, brought to life through cinematic visuals, wry storytelling, and a voiceover from none other than Peep Show’s Matt King—yes, Super Hans himself.
“There’s a misconception that working for a big bank is mind-numbing, rigid, or only suited for those with traditional financial backgrounds,” says Dan Fernandez, executive creative director and co-founder of EveryFriday. “This gave us something to really rub up against.”
That tension powers the campaign. In a series of films, we meet protagonists mid-mope, struggling through that all-too-familiar Sunday night spiral and Monday morning slump. But instead of soft piano music and LinkedIn-style platitudes, we hear a new voice in their heads—King’s deadpan delivery offering a pep talk with just the right amount of bite.
“It would’ve been easy to adopt a grand, rousing Patrick Stewart-esque motivational speech,” Fernandez explains. “But we wanted this to feel more accessible. Matt’s direct and low-key tone infused the scripts with a kind of streetwise wisdom, motivating our cast in a more unexpected way.”
It’s a clever subversion. In a category saturated with jargon-heavy promises about “growth opportunities” and “dynamic working environments,” this campaign dares to talk about what people are actually feeling. Monday morning dread becomes the creative hook—a universal truth that many workers, particularly those on the lookout for change, will recognise.
“The most straightforward ideas are often the most effective,” Fernandez says. “Monday morning is the strongest evidence of how you truly feel about your job. We saw an opportunity to use that truth – and find humour in it.”
That approach is evident not just in tone but also in visual language. Shot with a cinematic lens, the campaign avoids the usual tropes: no awkward handshakes, no beaming teams huddled around a laptop, and no soul-sapping office montages. Instead, it’s character-driven and stylised yet grounded in emotion.
“We deliberately avoided all the usual corporate clichés,” says Fernandez. “No staged office shots, no jargon-filled speeches. We focused on real emotions and universal experiences.”
The result is a campaign that feels surprisingly fresh—especially for a bank. And that’s kind of the point. Lloyds Banking Group is in the midst of a major cultural shift, both internally and externally. As it expands its digital and innovation teams and embraces a more agile, progressive model, the bank is actively looking to attract talent beyond traditional finance.
“Lloyds is undergoing a significant transformation—not only in its services but also in its culture,” Fernandez says. “With a fresh rebrand to build from and an ambitious brief, the door was open for us to produce something unexpected.”
And unexpected it is. By reframing what a job in banking can look—and feel—like, the campaign taps into something more meaningful than skill sets or salary bands. It’s about energy, mindset, and, perhaps most refreshingly, real people.
For a sector often seen as overly serious, EveryFriday’s work manages to tread that fine line between playful and purposeful. It has humour, yes—but also heart. And in a recruitment landscape increasingly cluttered with generic messaging, Lloyds Bank’s self-aware pivot might just be the best wake-up call we’ve heard in a while.
Because if the voice in your head sounds like Super Hans telling you it’s time for a change, maybe it’s time to listen.
