I don’t have the internal stats. But from the looks of it, the response to Chase’s new Sapphire Reserve Card rollout has been like a kid with his shoes tied correctly – no one is tripping over themselves to get it.

The feeling on the ground contrasts heavily from the original Sapphire Reserve launch in 2016. Back then you couldn’t turn your head in the credit card world without someone talking about it.

There are two ways to do a brand marketing campaign: you either promote to people or you attract them. The former is much more expensive, but it seems to be the route Chase took this time around.

It’s The Boldest Safe Thing You Can Say

In LA and NYC, I couldn’t escape the billboards. Claudia Schiffer holding an oversized Sapphire Reserve. Hailey Bieber towering near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. A third that simply read: “The Most Rewarding Card.”

Don’t get me wrong — I love ad copy that doesn’t make your customer work hard. But “The Most Rewarding Card” feels like saying “The Smoothest Lotion.” It’s the boldest safe thing you can say.

Luxury credit cards are, at their core, just pocket-sized coupon books. Copy like this only reminds you of it.

People Need to Want to Be Part of Your Brand

Amex plays a different game. When it refreshed Platinum, it didn’t just roll out ads. It created an unofficial holiday — what some called “Amex Platinum Day.”

Open the app on September 18th and you saw it immediately: premium dark-mode design, new benefits woven into onboarding, even Resy baked in. The card felt upgraded, and so did the world around it. That’s attraction.

Back on my Chase app? Just the same interface customers have had for years.

I think back to when my team and I were building the Cream Amex Card. I was in Amex’s HQ for partnership meetings. An executive asked me: “Why Amex?”

My answer still holds: Amex is the only card brand that can sell you on color and design alone.

When the Rose Gold Amex dropped, I already had a Platinum. I didn’t care. I called and ordered one anyway — without even checking the bonus offer. I explained this to the Amex team with a concept I called Lifestyle Finance: affiliation and aspiration, not just points and coupon credits.

Traditional marketers try to make people want their brand.

The new school understands: people need to want to be part of your brand.

Amex knows what its customers do – they dine, they travel, they shape culture. And because they know this deeply, they can drop a teaser that feels more like Apple circa 2014 than Madison Avenue.

Meanwhile, the Sapphire Reserve campaign feels like a card still in search of its customer.

Backup Card Energy

In one of Chase’s influencer posts with the Foster Sisters, one recalled using her Sapphire Reserve in Rome when her boyfriend’s card wasn’t accepted. The positioning basically cast Sapphire as the literal “reserve” card.

I almost fell out of my chair.

We get the dig — Amex acceptance in Europe is spotty. But accepting second place, rather than giving customers a reason to make it their primary card? That smells like Lyft. Not a card I’d pay $795 a year for.

Respectfully…

This isn’t a hit piece. Chase is my alma mater. I’ve worked at four of the biggest institutions, and I still believe Chase is the best-run financial institution in the world. It made me.

But even the greatest albums have one forgettable track. And this campaign? One okay song in an otherwise greatest-hits collection.

The brand nerd in me can’t help imagining what might’ve been possible with even 10% of that budget focused on attraction over promotion.

So, What If…

Instead of promoting, Chase attracted?

What if it launched a campaign called “Reserved” — a series of experiences so magnetic that customers told the story for them? Something that makes non-customers wonder what's going on at the party behind their neighbor's fence.

Something like:

• Reserved Social Club Pop-Ups: entry only by swiping your Sapphire Reserve.
• Reserved Air: leverage its partnership with United to create express lanes at select airports for members, similar to the Delta One check-in experience.
• Reserved Seasons: Michelin or James Beard events where spend unlocks access. These can’t feel overproduced.

And the killer: a limited-edition Sapphire Reserve in Tiffany Silver.

This isn’t a Robinhood solid gold stunt. People don’t want jewelry from Robinhood. They want it from Tiffany. Chase has the prestige to pull this off.

That would send a shockwave through the internet and act as a speed bump to Amex’s new mirrored Platinum Card. It would be louder than any billboard on Sunset boulevard.

The Lesson

Chase could’ve applied a patient, sequenced, ground-up strategy that bubbled up to a splash. Smaller, focused, but more impactful than blanket ads. A foundation strong enough for Claudia Schiffer or Hailey Bieber to stand on.

Because here’s the truth: there will never be a card that beats Amex at its own game.

The only way forward is to invent a new game. One that makes people not just want your brand — but want to belong to it.

✦ Luke Bailey is a brand builder and owner of Units.Studio. He’s known for creating products like the ‘Cream Amex Card’ and ‘Score: The Dating App for People with Good Credit.’ You can read more from him at his weekly Out of Office series on LinkedIn and Substack.