Capstone:

Product and
Brand Management
Group Assignment 3
Dr. Pekka Mattila
Professor of Practice
Group Assignment III

• Text case on Chase Sapphire card

• The learning objective of this case assignment is to
illustrate strategic decision-making regarding
segmenting, targeting and positioning in synch with
customer insight and customer journey related themes –
also taking into account the pricing architecture

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
2
Group Assignment III

• Familiarize yourself with the case text

• Read carefully the course articles related to the
highlighted themes
• Find additional information online – be creative
• Consider also using external benchmarks and finding
relevant analogies

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
3
Chase Sapphire:
Creating a Millennial Cult Brand
Answer carefully the following questions:
1. What is your assessment of the Chase Sapphire Reserve
card? Is this a good product for JPMorgan Chase
(JPMC)? For the Sapphire brand? Why or why not?
2. Why has Chase Sapphire Reserve been so successful in
acquiring customers? Will this success continue over
time? Why or why not? What changes would you make to
their customer acquisition strategy going forward?

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
4
Chase Sapphire:
Creating a Millennial Cult Brand
Answer carefully the following questions:
3. The behavior of individual adopters of the card will vary
in how much they spend, whether they pay all of their
charges in full each month, and whether they churn (i.e.,
whether they renew their card annually or not). Assuming
the following for each type of customer, how can the
Chase Sapphire team best design its product and brand
to attract the right customers? Has it done so
successfully with the Chase Sapphire Reserve? Why or
why not?

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
5
Chase Sapphire:
Creating a Millennial Cult Brand
Answer carefully the following questions:
4. If you are a competing credit card provider, how do you
respond to the Chase Sapphire Reserve? How should
Chase position itself to be ready for these competitive
responses?
5. How successful will Chase be at retaining Chase
Sapphire Reserve customers into their second year?
Why? What would you suggest they do to improve their
odds of retaining their customers?

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
6
Chase Sapphire:
Creating a Millennial Cult Brand
Answer carefully the following questions:
6. Over time, the Sapphire brand has evolved from a single
product (Sapphire launched in 2009) to a three-item
product line. Going forward, how would you manage the
Chase Sapphire brand and product portfolio? Does
Chase have the right number of products in the line? Are
the features of each product the right features? What
changes, if any, would you make to the Chase Sapphire
Preferred card given Chase Sapphire Reserve’s success?

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
7
Group Assignment III

• The assignment is to be completed in groups of

3-5 students
• The group composure may vary for every assignment
• The groups are in charge of allocating their workload in
a fair and balanced manner. Should there be any
problems, contact the course staff

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
8
Group Assignment III

• The submission deadline is Monday 25th March

at noon
• Submission as soft copies only to MyCourses
• The course support Olga Lavrusheva’s email address
olga.lavrusheva@aalto.fi
• Late submissions are neither accepted nor graded
• Indicate clearly the course name, the names of the group
members and their student numbers as the first page

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
9
Group Assignment III

• After every case, a number of groups are chosen to

present their treatise in class – the presenting groups are
informed in the morning of the day of the lecture at latest
• It makes always sense to prepare for presenting
• Fluent presentations will increase the group assignment
score in grading, failure to do so will lower the score
• Maximum length for the submission is 9 pages (A4) or 22
slides (pptx)

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
10
Group Assignment III

• Be explicit about your analysis and justify the given

recommendations
• This assignments is worth 16 points and makes up
16% of the overall course grade
• Being invited to present in class and doing so can earn you
2 bonus points

Pekka Mattila
12.3.2019
11