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For Chase to get Stephen Curry, Kevin Hart, and A’ja Wilson on its team for a new campaign, it had to bring more to the partnership than its logo and some scripted one-liners.
In an exclusive preview for ADWEEK, Chase launched the latest ad in its “Cashback Like a Pro” sports marketing campaign, pairing the Golden State Warriors’ four-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP, and newly minted Olympic gold medalist Stephen Curry with People’s Choice Award-winning actor and comedian Kevin Hart. After reimagining Curry and former Warriors teammate Klay Thompson’s Splash Brothers pairing as the Cash Brothers during the 2023 NBA playoffs and bringing in Allen Iverson later that year to not talk about practice, Chase teased a tip-off between Curry and Hart earlier this year.
During this year’s NBA conference finals, the two finally delivered in a spot featuring Hart taking Curry to a gym to determine who’s the C.O.A.T.: the greatest Cashbacker of All Time. (It’s an ad for Chase Freedom rewards, after all.) Hart opens the first two possessions, mocking Curry with the 1% cash back he’s earned on finger paint while the notoriously long-range shooter comes nowhere near the paint under the rim.
After draining two shots over Hart’s head from outside, Curry responds that he’s earned 3% back on barbecue—and that Hart’s getting smoked on the court.
Suddenly, a shot comes in over both of their heads, hitting nothing but net as reigning two-time WNBA champ and reigning MVP A’ja Wilson—in a fresh pair of her namesake Nike A’Ones—informs them that she earned 5% back on her flight in… and will politely leave with the C.O.A.T. title.
With Curry connected to Chase for nearly a decade, Hart signing on six years ago, and Wilson announcing her partnership with the brand earlier this year. Chase has assembled a team that it knows from experience can connect with its core audience. But the product Chase and its agency partners put on screen is just the surface of the deeper connections it’s been trying to build with both its stars and their fans.
“We have a really incredible base of customers who carry Freedom cards, and we want the people that we partner with to exemplify the passions of those customers,” said Chase Freedom general manager Wittney Rachlin. “We know that passion of sports. We know the passion of being the greatest of what you do, so having people like this on our roster is incredibly important. It resonates with the ideals of our customers.”
Getting the greatest
Curry first jumped aboard with Chase in 2016, three years before the company would put its name on the Chase Center in San Francisco that Curry’s Warriors now call home. Today, JPMorgan Chase serves as an official partner of Curry’s Thirty Ink business collective that includes his Unanimous Media production company, his Underrated youth golf tour and basketball showcase, and his Gentleman’s Cut whiskey brand.
Wilson officially announced her partnership with Chase in April, citing its willingness to support both her business ventures and women’s sports as the foundation of the relationship. A few months earlier, at NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco, Chase invited both Wilson and Curry to its Chase Freedom Cashback Courts activation near the city’s Moscone Center, the site of the NBA Crossover fan festival.
The two were joined by basketball Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett, NBA players Moses Moody and Karl Anthony-Towns, performers Saweetie and Thuy, and WNBA expansion team Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase and players Kate Martin and Kayla Thornton. With Chase Freedom also a jersey-patch sponsor for the Valkyries and a supporter of its “Founding Guard” season ticketholders at Chase Center—who received varsity jackets from Chase and the team for their purchase—the brand is investing not only in players, but in the 99% of fans that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said (for years) will never set foot in a professional basketball arena.
“It’s about the family and everyday individual who wants to experience and get access to these events—we want to bring that access to them. We want to bring the fandom to them,” Rachlin said. “I think All-Star was a great example. Not everybody can go to an All-Star Game, so how can we bring the All-Star Game to the fans? And we’ll repeat that.”
Hart—who hosted the NBA All-Star Game this year—has been with Chase since 2019. Last year, Chase worked with Hart and his daughter, Heaven, on a campaign to promote financial literacy among college students of color. For this installment of the campaign, Chase brought in Hart’s Hartbeat production company to support creative partner and lead agency Translation and create the look and tone of the ad.
By not only creating a dream team of talent but also committing to and investing in each of them and their off-screen interests, Chase has built a bankable connection with sports fans that extends beyond its ads.
“They were all lovely people who were really professionals. They were great to work with,” Rachlin said. “We want to work with humans—real people who want to interact with fans, who want to be part of the message—and seeing them interact brought that to life.”
