Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers travel anywhere and earn points everywhere. In “James Plans A Vacation” campaign, we inspired cardmembers to do more of just that.

In the campaign, real Sapphire Reserve cardmembers travel around all seven continents to help James Corden plan his next vacation. They’re scouting the most amazing restaurants, accommodations and experiences they can find, from gorilla trekking in Uganda to sandboarding in the Chilean Desert to beach barbecuing on Lord Howe Island, Australia.

Each cardmember reports back to James through his makeshift command center, which lets James video-chat with each traveler from the comfort of home. The incredible footage captured all over the planet gives James ample fodder to do what he does best: entertain.

The campaign motivated our cardmembers to continue exploring every inch of the planet, all while earning 3x points.

The overall campaign launched September 2017 with mass reach TV and targeted OLV, giving Sapphire Reserve the opportunity to inspire our cardholders to use up their remaining vacation time to take that trip they’ve always dreamed of, with their Sapphire Reserve card as enabler and companion.

The executions with James Corden delivered our strategy of making real Sapphire Reserve cardholders the heroes, documenting their travel experiences on every continent. We see them use real-life experiences, passion for exploration, and expertise in travel to help James Corden find the perfect vacation.

This spot introduces James’s role in the campaign with concentrated airings on TV in coverage surrounding the 2017 Emmy Awards during primetime television where James Corden was both an award presenter and nominee. This capitalized on our communications strategy by meeting our target in a strong media moment that was directly relevant to our creative execution.

This introductory spot to the campaign was seen 7.5MM times online and aired in TV programming related to the 2017 Emmy Awards that totaled over 9MM impressions.

Ad tracking showed an overwhelmingly positive, favorable response to the comedic elements of the work. Respondents indicated that James was a primary driver of that success—“I liked the characters. James is funny and likeable, good spokesman with a good message implying benefits of the card.”

This campaign was meant to keep Sapphire Reserve cardholders engaged with the brand. After the overwhelmingly successful launch a year prior, there was a real concern that we would lose cardmembers as $450 annual fees started showing up on their statements.

By the end of 2017, Chase reported a better-than-forecasted retention rate of over 90 percent and over 250% more usage per cardmember than average for a rewards card.