With competition increasing among card issuers for affluent customers who often travel, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is going on the road to promote its new United MileagePlus Explorer card.
And the issuer is bringing along Visa Inc.-sponsored Olympic athletes to draw crowds to the events.
Chase launched the $95-per-year Explorer card in July (
The card features benefits designed to reduce stress and save cardholders hundreds of dollars per year at the airport, including free baggage handling. And Chase is building its marketing effort around that particular perk with baggage claim pop-up events taking place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The events are located in high-traffic areas such as The Americana at Brand in Los Angeles, Michigan Avenue in Chicago and Union Station in Washington.
For the event, consumers–whether they are cardholders or not–can play a game where they pick a bag off a baggage carousel and win such prizes as 1 million MileagePlus bonus miles, luxury getaway trips, Fujifilm DSLR cameras, $200 Tumi gift cards, e-readers and Olympic paraphernalia, David Gold, general manager at Chase Card Services, tells PaymentsSource.
Olympians on hand for the events include Dan Jansen, Summer Sanders and Kerri Walsh.
Chase held the promotion in San Francisco Aug. 24 and 25, drawing more than 500 Explorer cardholders who received priority “boarding” in the line to choose a bag in the Ultimate Baggage Claim game, says Gold.
The Los Angeles event took place Aug. 18 and 19. Chicago’s event is slated for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, and the Washington, D.C., event is scheduled for Sept. 19 and 20. Chase says it has promoted the events locally on radio, television, newspapers, and through such online channels as blogs and emails to Explorer cardholders.
“The primary reason for the promotion is to find a way to excite the public about the Explorer card,” says Gold. “We know people really value these things” the Explorer card offers, he says.
The Olympic athletes provide a draw to the event and give away prizes to everyone who plays the Ultimate Baggage Claim game, Gold says.
Chase’s effort represents one of many recent pushes into the affluent consumer card market, observers say. In recent weeks, Chase also has launched marketing efforts for its affluent-targeted Sapphire card (
Card issuers are clamoring for stable credit card customers who are a good credit risk and also spend money on such segments as airline tickets and travel, Megan Bramlette, director at Auriemma Consulting Group, tells PaymentsSource.
“Issuers are looking for stability and growth in their portfolios, and airline cards a natural fit for that because these consumers are people with jobs,” she says.
The Chase events also build brand awareness, says Bramlette. “It’s not necessarily just about signing up new accounts,” she says. “It’s about branding and generating buzz about the benefits of the card, so when a consumer gets a piece of mail about the Explorer card they say ‘wow, this card gives me a lot of value.’”
