Had he finished nothing aside from play basketball, Dwyane Wade could be having fun with his well-earned celeb standing as one of many best taking pictures guards in NBA historical past. However Wade, 43, has finished much more than basketball. Retired six years, the previous Miami Warmth taking pictures guard is an entrepreneur, commentator, gameshow host, creator, group proprietor, and vintner. And along with his 6-foot-4 body sporting suits from Saint Laurent, Prada, and Dzojchen, he’s change into fairly the style plate, too.

These are a number of of the the reason why Chase provided Wade his newest job because the face of its Sapphire Reserve card.

Wade is the most recent to lend his identify to Chase’s super-premium bank card, which the financial institution has been promoting during the last six months. Others have included vocalist Ella Langley, pioneering chef and restaurateur David Chang, and actor/producer/screenwriter Ben Stiller.

Wade is arguably the third trend plate on this crew, preceded by fashions Hailey Bieber and Claudia Schiffer, who kicked off the hassle in June. 

“The widespread thread throughout all of those of us is all of them do have their very own genuine approach of loving to journey and dine,” JPMorgan Chase’s world chief model officer Leanne Fremar advised ADWEEK.

Chase Sapphire Reserve generated quite a lot of buzz after its 2016 introduction. Unboxing videos appeared on YouTube and demand was so excessive that the financial institution ran out of the sheets of metal alloy used to stamp the playing cards, the New York Instances reported on the time.

Since then, Chase has added to the already lengthy checklist of advantages that cardholders get for his or her $795 annual payment (raised from $500 yearly earlier this 12 months). Perks embody $500 credit score at “hand-picked” luxe accommodations, cash-back factors multiples extra beneficiant than different playing cards, and entry to airport Sapphire Lounges, full with open bars and wellness rooms.

With a laundry checklist of latest rewards to advertise, Fremar stated, “we felt prefer it was a good time to reintroduce Sapphire to audiences.”

In a way, it has to. Sapphire Reserve was a relative novelty in 2016, however a slew of so-called luxurious bank cards are actually competing for the patronage of prosperous shoppers–manufacturers corresponding to Capital One’s Enterprise X, launched in 2021, and Citi’s Strata Elite, which debuted this summer season. As of final 12 months, the “steel card” phase was value some $2.3 billion globally and should hit $10.5 billion by 2031, in line with information from Valuates.