Kristin Faucher, Head of Brand and Advertising: Card, Travel, Commerce, JPMorgan Chase

Recap

On Wednesday, March 18, the FCS hosted its first Spotlight Luncheon at the New York Yacht Club since 2024. For this special event, the FCS invited Kristin Faucher, Managing Director, Head of Brand and Advertising: Card, Travel, Commerce, at JPMorgan Chase, to be our guest speaker. She was joined on stage by our interviewer FCS Board Director, Rob Pfeiffer, VP, Sales at FOX Business, the exclusive programming partner for the event.

In their conversation, Kristin shared insights on how agency life prepared her for success managing an in-house marketing team; the important role consumer research plays in credit cards; why experiential campaigns are taking over; and where AI fits into all of this.

Lessons from the Agency Side
Kristin kicked off the interview by sharing her background on the agency side. More scrappy than its corporate counterpart, agency life reinforced the value of learning to do a lot with a little for Kristin. The agency environment and work ethic prepared her for the demanding aspects of the client side, where high levels of communication and a consistent focus on measurable outcomes are at the forefront.

Working at an agency also introduced her to a variety of different industries, ranging from consumer packaged goods to fashion to technology, giving her knowledge and experience that served as a solid foundation for her work on the client side and, eventually, at JPMorgan Chase.

Consumer Psychology in Credit Cards
People put a lot of thought and research into deciding which credit cards to apply for. This fact underpins Kristin’s approach to leading the Chase Sapphire and Freedom card brands, which offer different perks and experiences for their respective customers. She emphasized the importance of research to understand consumer needs and to deliver the best card benefits that meet the needs of different cardmember target audiences. By applying consumer psychology and utilizing data gathered by the Brand Insights Team, Kristin and her team formulated strategies that highlight the distinct behavior and qualities of each card’s user base to communicate each brand’s value effectively.

Experiences Are King
Consumer-centric experiences have become especially important in Kristin’s recent work at JPMorgan Chase. Applying insights from research and data, Kristin and her team determined that the quality of experiences motivated Chase Sapphire cardmembers, such as access to exclusive spaces like airport lounges that had premium offerings. This led to the creation and launch of the Chase Sapphire Lounge, a place where Sapphire cardmembers’ status could be shown through elevated dining options and seating that other airport-goers couldn’t access. There are currently five Chase Sapphire Lounge locations, with an award-winning flagship at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

Experiential marketing can also cultivate newer audiences. For example, Kristin touched on JPMorgan Chase deepening its presence in women’s sports. After discovering that WNBA player A’ja Wilson was already a fan of Chase’s cards, Kristin and her team partnered with A’ja during NBA All-Star Weekend at Chase Arena. Targeting younger generations, Kristin shared collaborations with influencers like Hailey Bieber and brands like Pinterest.

Where AI Fits
Inevitably, the AI question popped up. Kristin expressed her view that AI is best served as a tool for streamlining to allow for more human creativity and innovation. She believes that AI can do the tedious work that slows marketers down and takes away from the limited time and energy creative teams have. With more time allotted to creative teams to develop high-level strategy, campaigns can be smarter and more successful.

Kristin shared that JPMorgan Chase is taking a pragmatic approach with AI by focusing on internal applications rather than customer-facing ones for now. Her team currently uses AI during the conceptual phases of creative work and plans to integrate it into low-level production tasks to increase efficiency in the future.

Where Kristin doesn’t see AI replacing humans is in transforming research data into scoped-out campaigns. She stated that she sees an opportunity for AI to grow in market research. However, to fully understand a consumer on a human level, she believes there will always have to be human eyes and interpretations on the data.

— This recap is based on reports by FCS Marketing Scholars Evan Butler, Abigail Cristofaro, Allie Kouch, and Juliana Tulio, with editing by FCS Administrative & Communications Coordinator Juliet McAlee