Comperemedia’s Chief Insights Officer, Andrew Davidson is well known for sharing the latest insights on financial services products and marketing strategies/innovations on his LinkedIn, as an event speaker and as a host on Mintel’s Little Conversation podcast. In this bi-weekly recap, he will provide you with the latest news and insights happening in the financial services industry.
Here are the 5 things you need to know:
1. U.S. Bank’s new ad campaign
U.S. Bank has launched a new Smartly Visa Signature campaign featuring Peyton Manning.
The campaign kicked off with a national TV spot during the College Football Playoff National Championship game on January 20th and includes television, digital, and social media ads.
A second TV spot featuring Manning and his Smartly card will air later in 2025, according to the announcement.
The Smartly Visa Signature Card was launched late last year with no annual fee and up to 4% cash back on EVERY PURCHASE when combined with a Smartly Savings Account.
💡Safe pair of hands:
- Different approach. In recent years we’ve seen the emergence of a new genre of cashback comedy – think Kevin Hart (Chase), Jennifer Coolidge (Discover), Will Ferrell (PayPal), Steve Martin & Martin Short (Wells Fargo). By working with Manning, the focus is less on laugh-out-loud comedy and more on relatable, personable messaging that reinforces trust and financial empowerment.
- Broad appeal. Manning’s reputation for reliability, professionalism, and approachability makes him a perfect fit for U.S. Bank’s values. His cross-generational fanbase amplifies the campaign’s reach. Pair that with the smart timing of the College Football Playoff National Championship, and you get a seamless alignment between the product, its spokesperson, and the football season—creating maximum impact.
2. Capital One breaks its marketing record
Capital One spent a RECORD $4.6 billion on marketing in 2024, up 14% from 2023, following a record quarter where the bank spent a RECORD $1.4 billion.
Marketing efforts were primarily driven by opportunities in its domestic card business and the company emphasized how marketing had generated strong new account growth.
The marketing increase included an investment in premium benefits and differentiated customer experiences, such as its travel portal and airport lounges
💡Welcome to the club:
- The $5 Billion Club. Capital One joins Amex and Chase in nearly bypassing the $5 billion spent on marketing each year as these big players double down on a strategy that is powering new account growth. For context, in 2019, the year before the pandemic, Capital One spent $2.3 billion on marketing. That is a pretty dramatic transformation in just five years. We aren’t YET at Amazon levels of marketing spend (approx. $10 billion) but we are in a golden age of financial services marketing. (Deliberate emphasis on the “yet”).
- Cautiously optimistic. No specific guidance was given regarding 2025 marketing spend but we can connect some dots: a) Rich Fairbank’s tone was cautiously optimistic about the outlook for credit b) Capital One is still behind Amex and Chase and it knows it has to keep up to enhance its share of voice and c) Last year, Fairbank suggested that the Discover acquisition would only result in modest (c.10%) synergies in marketing. Put all that together and we can infer continued marketing growth in 2025.
3. American Express acquires more new cards than ever
13 MILLION NEW CARDS -THAT’S LIKE WELCOMING AN ENTIRE NATION THE SIZE OF BOLIVIA to the Amex membership base!
American Express reported record revenue, record marketing spend, record cardholder spend and record new card acquisition growth at its Q4 2024 earnings call.
💡Doubling down:
- Doubling down on innovation. We started last year with the remarkable announcement that Amex would refresh 40 products globally throughout 2024. You would think it would have to take a strategic pause but Amex is pushing forward and maintaining that pace in 2025 promising to refresh 35-50 products this year. Clearly the strategy of relaunching products based on the Amex Product Design Playbook (higher fees/more value) paid off by fueling record new card acquisition and cardholder spending, so why stop!
- The big three are speaking the same language. I posted earlier about the $5 billion club with the big three all hitting new heights but when it comes to credit card marketing, Amex is still king. The company spent a record $6 billion in 2024 after injecting an additional $800 million for the year to drive acquisition (that increase alone is bigger than most annual card marketing budgets). Guidance for marketing spend in 2025 is for a “modest increase” similar in tone to Capital One. I sound like a scratched record but it’s the golden age of card marketing. Most card issuers don’t have this type of marketing war chest and will have to be scrappy, innovative, and targeted to carve out a piece of the pie from these marketing giants.
4. A new co-branded hotel debit card is coming soon from SoFi
NEW CO-BRANDED HOTEL DEBIT CARD coming soon to the US, courtesy of SoFi.
At SoFi’s Q4 2024 earnings call, CEO Anthony Soto said, “…we’ve signed a partnership with a leading hotel rewards brand for a co-branded debit card program launching in the first half of ’25. This is a new differentiated offering that will expand our footprint among consumer brands.”
No other details were provided.
💡Speculation regarding an early signal:
- Could it be Hilton? Last September, Hilton launched what it claimed was “the world’s first hotel loyalty debit cards” in the UK in partnership with the fintech Currensea. The cards leverage open banking to connect with customer bank accounts (18 banks are supported) and have generated some buzz. Could Hilton be bringing them stateside?
- Value prop. In the UK Hilton launched two debit card options. 1) Hilton Honors Debit Card £60 annual fee (c.$75) 2) Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card £150 (c.$190). Both earn Hilton Honors points and come with a sign-on bonus and automatic status (the key benefit) as well as favorable exchange rates thanks to Currensea. Whether or not it’s Hilton, the basic value proposition of automatic status + bonus in exchange for an annual fee is likely. The question is whether SoFi will require customers to have a SoFi account or allow them to connect with other bank accounts. Given SoFi’s focus on cross-selling you would think it will be SoFi only, but we will see.
- Early signal. Could this be an early signal of a new trend? Airlines and hotel loyalty programs have struggled to engage younger consumers and debit cards may offer a new entry point to expand opportunities for members to earn and spend rewards. Some consumers will prefer a zero-debt-risk approach to earning hotel rewards.
5. JetBlue launches new premium card
JetBlue and Barclays launched the JetBlue Premier Card, a premium travel card for frequent fliers. The airline wasted no time with in-app ads promoting the card. Highlights include:
- $499 annual fee + $150 for each authorized user
- JetBlue lounge access: Coming soon at JFK and BOS (otherwise Priority Pass)
- 70K TrueBlue points and 5 tiles toward Mosaic qualification after spending $5K in the first three months (every $1K you earn a tile and Mosaic status starts at 50 tiles)
- $300 in statement credits for booking hotels/cars via Paisley (max. $50 credit per trip)
- Earn 6X points with JetBlue and 2X points at restaurants and grocery stores (the same as the $99 fee JetBlue Plus Card)
- 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 12 months (not many premium cards include a promo APR so this is unique)
💡Premium economics:
- It had to be a premium travel card. For the first new card of the year, it seems fitting that it is a premium card. Travel and tourism is forecast to grow with many consumers saying that they intend to travel more and spend more this year. In this context, it seems the economics of premium travel cards are increasingly making sense, with anticipated launches from Citi, Alaska/Bank of America, and a potential refresh of the American Express Platinum Card on the docket for 2025. I posted last month that I was excited about more travel card innovation in 2025. I wasn’t expecting it this soon!
- Gearing up for takeoff. The in-app ad is just the start. JetBlue is very present with its marketing at New York area airports and will likely take the omnichannel approach that it has with its JetBlue Plus Card up a level by leveraging direct mail, email, video and a robust out-of-home effort at the airport. They will need to, as the marketing battle for premium travel cards is heating up this year with Chase already out of the gate and ramping up its marketing for Sapphire Reserve in response to elevated activity from American Express and Capital One. When it comes to premium cards, the consumer has more choices than ever.
