Had he done nothing other than play basketball, Dwyane Wade would be enjoying his well-earned celebrity status as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history. But Wade, 43, has done a lot more than basketball. Retired six years, the former Miami Heat shooting guard is an entrepreneur, commentator, gameshow host, author, team owner, and vintner. And with his 6-foot-4 frame sporting fits from Saint Laurent, Prada, and Dzojchen, he’s become quite the fashion plate, too.
These are a few of the reasons why Chase offered Wade his latest job as the face of its Sapphire Reserve card.
Wade is the latest to lend his name to Chase’s super-premium credit card, which the bank has been advertising over the last six months. Others have included vocalist Ella Langley, pioneering chef and restaurateur David Chang, and actor/producer/screenwriter Ben Stiller.
Wade is arguably the third fashion plate in this crew, preceded by models Hailey Bieber and Claudia Schiffer, who kicked off the effort in June.
“The common thread across all of these folks is they all do have their own authentic way of loving to travel and dine,” JPMorgan Chase’s global chief brand officer Leanne Fremar told ADWEEK.
Chase Sapphire Reserve generated a lot of buzz after its 2016 introduction. Unboxing videos appeared on YouTube and demand was so high that the bank ran out of the sheets of metal alloy used to stamp the cards, the New York Times reported at the time.
Since then, Chase has added to the already long list of benefits that cardholders get for their $795 annual fee (raised from $500 annually earlier this year). Perks include $500 credit at “hand-picked” luxe hotels, cash-back points multiples more generous than other cards, and access to airport Sapphire Lounges, complete with open bars and wellness rooms.
With a laundry list of new rewards to promote, Fremar said, “we felt like it was a great time to reintroduce Sapphire to audiences.”
In a sense, it has to. Sapphire Reserve was a relative novelty in 2016, but a slew of so-called luxury credit cards are now competing for the patronage of affluent consumers–brands such as Capital One’s Venture X, launched in 2021, and Citi’s Strata Elite, which debuted this summer. As of last year, the “metal card” segment was worth some $2.3 billion globally and may hit $10.5 billion by 2031, according to data from Valuates.
With a reported net worth of $170 million, Wade isn’t your average credit-card customer, but he embodies the jet-setting standard that the ordinarily wealthy cardholder aspires to.
And he looks the part.
Much like he did with Schiffer and Bieber, noted fashion photographer David Sims shot Wade in various designer ensembles posing with an oversized Sapphire Reserve card.
“[With] Claudia or Haley, you’re used to seeing [them] carry a luxury handbag, so we use that as an analog,” Fremar said. “With someone as fashion-forward and stylish as Dwyane Wade, we had him carrying the card in a similar way, a little bit more like a valise.”
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