Lloyd's of London has launched its first-ever advertising campaign as it prepares to open its doors to high street brokers.

The move pre-empts rule changes on June 1 when Lloyd's syndicates will be able to accept business from all intermediaries rather than just Lloyd's brokers.

"Lloyd's has until now been circumspect in its advertising. But we feel that although it has a good brand image, this needs nurturing to increase people's understanding of the insurance market," explained Caroline Wagstaff, head of marketing and communications.

She added that the campaign has received a good response from a focus group of brokers.

"Before we launched the campaign, market research highlighted a surprising lack of understanding about Lloyd's among brokers," she said.

Brokers were also reassured by facts such as 75% of FTSE 100 companies hold an insurance policy at Lloyd's.

The £500,000 campaign in UK and US trade press and broadsheets runs until June. It features four weather-related images

The first advert in the series is headed "risk-taking and secure" and features a climber scaling a glacier supported by guide ropes.

Another expresses Lloyd's "diverse and unified" structure of inter-dependent syndicates with a picture of a single snowflake against a snow drift background.

The clout of the market's syndicates is underlined by a third image of several streams flowing into a dammed lake entitled "flexible and large".

And the market's mutual status is illustrated in the final advert - subtitled "competition and co-operation" - by a rainbow which mixes the elements of sunshine and rain.
- LLOYD'S has received a strong response to its proposals to open the market up to non-Lloyd's brokers.

It received 80 submissions from a wide range of interests including, non-Lloyd's and Lloyd's brokers, accountancy and audit firms, and Lloyd's associations.

Lloyd's member firms showed a particularly high interest in the plans which could introduce a new category of broker called a sponsored intermediary who would deal direct with the market's managing agents.

Around 70% of Lloyd's brokers and 50% of managing agents replied to the plans.

The deadline for responses closed on January 14. Lloyd's is set to publish a report on the consultation exercise in April.