Sapphire Brand Analysis Marketing

Running head: SAPPHIRE BRAND CASE STUDY

SAPPHIRE BRAND CASE STUDY 2

Discussion Questions: Case Study of the Sapphire Brand

3. How does the brand spawn a community merely through its adoption?

Sources contend that a brand itself cannot be a movement on its own, but it could help spawn a community (O’Brien & Veenstra, 2021). O’Brien and Veenstra (2021) define a spawning movement as that moment when a brand and the values it represents becomes more than just something to buy; when it catches fire and becomes a part of people’s lives. A brand-fueled movement happens at the point of intersection between a brand identity and an unmet need, social trend, or untapped passion (O’Brien & Veenstra, 2021). Based on this foundation, several factors made it possible for the Sapphire brand to spawn a movement or community as soon as it was launched (Grobart, n.d.).

First, the product design exhibited sleekness and class with its weighty metal core that creates what is referred to as ‘the plunk factor’ when their holders plunk them on the table for payment (Grobart, n.d.). Most credit cards in the industry at the time were made of plastic (Grobart, n.d.). As such, the metal core helped to differentiate the Sapphire Reserved/Preferred from other cards in the market, while appealing to the affluent customers seeking to own a card that is not only sleek and elegant, but boosts their social appeal and gets them noticed (Grobart, n.d.).

Secondly, the card market was going through an upheaval at the time of the launch of Sapphire Preferred. Due to the financial crisis, credit card issuers were reluctant to offer credit to anyone with a stained credit record, forcing most Americans to cut their credit card bills (Grobart , n.d.). The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) passed in 2009 had erased millions from the lower end of the market by placing restrictions on how issuers could penalize their members for non-compliance (Grobart n.d.). The aim of CARD was to curtail abusive and deceptive and abusive by credit card issuing companies as had been witnessed during the recession. Issuers preferred to issue cards to more affluent customers as these were a safer bet in the wake of the passage of CARD (Grobart, n.d.). Chase understood that one way to win the affluent customer under these circumstances was to offer a sense of being a sound financial choice by offering more value for less. As such, Chase opted to lower the annual fee for the Sapphire Preferred from hundreds of dollars to $95 to enhance the attractiveness of the product among more customers who were financially-strained due to the effects of the recession and had limited access to cards offered by competitors (Grobart, n.d.). This was how Chase was able to spawn the community and make the Sapphire brand a movement.

4. Explore the role of social media in the development of the Sapphire Brand, especially as a lifestyle brand

The Sapphire Brad mainly targets younger customers, particularly Millennials and Generation X, who have an active presence on social media. As such, social media networks provided a means for marketing to these target groups directly. The company maintains an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. To develop the brand through social media, the brand uses a range of marketing strategies.

One of the commonly used marketing strategies is social media sponsorships, where the brand teams up with celebrity endorsers with huge followings on social media, to post about the Sapphire brand on their social media accounts. By targeting celebrities with huge followings on social media networks that that the target customers frequent; Chase is using the power of social media and celebrity status to extend its reach and develop the brand. For instance, to promote its esteemed Sapphire Reserve card, Chase worked with celebrity model and wife of John Legend, Chrissy Teigan, who enjoys a massive following of over 2.7 million on Twitter and over 19 million on Instagram (Mediakix, 2016). The supermodel endorsed the card by making postings on its benefits on her Twitter and Instagram accounts (Mediakix, 2016). One of the Instagram posts received over 3 million views, with thousands of followers chiming in about how the posts had inspired them to explore the Sapphire card (Mediakix, 2016).

Chase has also grown the Sapphire brand on social media through strategically using industry bloggers to create an online hype. For example, when launching the Sapphire Reserve brand, Chase used the Points Guy, a popular online blog that focuses on maximizing credit card points for travel, and has more than 1.5 million unique hits a month, 235k followers on Twitter, and 1.3 million likes on their Facebook page (Frazier Heiby Blog, 2016). The blog made over ten postings about the Sapphire Reserve, covering topics such as how to apply, unwrapping the card from the mail, the expected benefits on dining and travel, and how to get approved, among others (Frazer Heiby Blog, 2016).

The Sapphire brand also leveraged hashtags such as #Sapphire on Location on Facebook and Instagram to endorse the Reserve brand by showcasing exciting travel and meal experiences gained through the use of Sapphire cards (Mediakix, 2016). The hashtag campaign attracted millions of views, resulted in rich content, and helped to raise awareness about the utility of the Sapphire brand. Further, the hashtag campaigns encouraged millions of customers to speak about their interactions with their card.

Social media networks have thus provided an invaluable platform for generational marketing of the Sapphire brand to millennials.

Question 4a). What are the likely risks of being a lifestyle brand? How can it limit marketing management of the brand?

A lifestyle brand is a company that markets its services or products to embody the opinions, attitudes, and interests of a certain group (Chernev, Hamilton & Gal, 2011). A lifestyle brand seeks to inspire, motivate, and guide people, with the aim of getting the product or service to contribute towards defining the customer’s life (Chernev et al., 2011). There are several risks that are associated with positioning oneself as a lifestyle brand. First, lifestyle positioning sets a brand up for more fierce competition not just from rivals within their industry, but with other lifestyle brands as well (Chernev et al., 2011). Being a lifestyle brand attracts higher levels of competition because the brand is competing on the basis of lifestyle rather than product category. A lifestyle brand competes for a share of customers’ identity, which then opens avenues for brands that would otherwise never compete for customers to become rivals (Chernev et al., 2011).

Further, lifestyle branding is prescriptive and may hinder new forms of self-expression (Chernev et al., 2011). Lifestyle brands create total universes with a style and ideology that dictates rules for a way of life. However, as Madsbjerg and Cariglio (2017) point out, customers’ need for self-expression needs also need to be satisfied. Customers often wish to broadcast ‘who they are’ in ways that are creative, autonomous, and fluid. If they cannot express the value that they derive from a product, they may not adequately identify with it or maintain their loyalty. In other words, lifestyle branding discourages differentiation, yet studies have shown that customers highly value individualism or having one’s own style (Madsbjerg and Cariglio, 2017).