When JPMorgan Chase & Co. launched its Sapphire premium card in 2009, it sought to match the card benefits with consumers’ lifestyles. And it paid particular attention to providing access to specific experiences and opportunities.
The program most recently sponsored an event on Aug. 6 in which several cardholders received VIP access to a chef cook-off in San Francisco. Chase also donated $20,000 to Meals on Wheels of San Francisco and $5,000 to Golden Gate Restaurant Association Scholarship Foundation.
For the event, two cardholders used points so they could sit next to the judging table and sample the dishes in the Illy Chef Challenge at the Westin St. Francis hotel. Chef challengers had to use Illy coffee and other surprise ingredients creatively to come up with a dish to win the cook-off. Several other cardholders traded points for VIP seating at the event, Chase said.
“One of the things we looked at when building the Sapphire program was understanding what’s important to consumers,” Brent Reinhard, Chase marketing director of Sapphire, tells PaymentsSource. “One thing that comes up as a passion point is dining. And when we were looking for events, the one that rose to the top was participating in the San Francisco chefs cook-off challenge.”
Chase saw it as an interesting way to give cardholders access to an event they may not have had access to otherwise.
Sports, particularly golf, also are a major passion of its cardholder base, Reinhard says. The issuer has been busy sponsoring experiential golf events for Sapphire cardholders all summer, including a recent golf clinic and closest-to-the-pin contest for 75 cardholders in Philadelphia. The clinic featured pro golfer Stewart Cink. Golfer Ricky Fowler will be the feature of a similar clinic in New York on Aug. 22, says Reinhard.
Chase Sapphire also is sponsoring the 10-city national tour of the hit Broadway show “Rock of Ages,” and cardholders may redeem points to have VIP seating and backstage access to those shows, says Reinhard.
It has become an important marketing tactic for card programs to link to lifestyle choices when determining reward options, Megan Bramlette, director at Auriemma Consulting Group, tells PaymentsSource. Cardholders will choose to pay with a particular card because they know they are earning points toward rewards that are meaningful to them, she says.
In terms of charity support, Sapphire cardholders may donate points to local and international charities, says Reinhard. Most recently, Chase enabled Sapphire cardholders to donate to the relief effort following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, he says.
Some Sapphire cardholders donate to and volunteer for charities. “It’s something that our customers are passionate about, and we provide them a way to give back to the community,” Reinhard says.
Giving cardholders a way to donate to charities on impulse when a disaster strikes is a good option to provide in a card program, though the number of consumers looking for this option might be small, says Bramlette.
