By AnnaMaria Andriotis
A recent party in Manhattan had the trappings of a hot ticket,
including a red carpet, a drag queen and a former "Real Housewives"
star. But the 500-plus guests were celebrating something that
doesn't usually evoke glamour -- credit cards.
The master of ceremonies: Brian Kelly, who not so long ago was a
human resources employee and is now one of the most powerful people
in credit cards. Mr. Kelly, who for a portion of the evening donned
a jacket fringed with 100 fake plastic cards, is founder and CEO of
The Points Guy, a website that reviews rewards cards.
Mr. Kelly, 36 years old, has the attention -- and money -- of
some of the largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co.,
Bank of America Corp. and Capital One Financial Corp. Reviews on
The Points Guy, known as TPG, can make or break a card. Banks pay
to advertise there and some seek his input before launching new
products. The banks also pay TPG when its readers get their credit
cards.
That has created a symbiotic relationship between Mr. Kelly and
the banks. TPG's financial success depends largely on the banks
continuing to pay. The banks pay up because they are attracted to
TPG's large readership. More than 10 million people visited the
site in January, and nearly half were first-time visitors,
according to Mr. Kelly.
Complicating the relationship is the fact that rewards cards
themselves haven't been the moneymaker the banking industry was
hoping for -- and that is in part because of Mr. Kelly. TPG helped
spawn a broader ecosystem of customers who swap tips online about
how to game the system, wringing rewards out of cards before
abandoning them, and some banks are discussing how to cut back on
rewards to trim costs.
Still, banks keep competing for rewards customers. Banks spent
an estimated $4.5 million in banner, display and video
advertisements on TPG in the fourth quarter of 2018, double from a
year prior and more than triple from two years prior, according to
Mintel Comperemedia's analysis of data from digital-marketing
intelligence firm Pathmatics. Roughly three-quarters of that came
from American Express Co. and JPMorgan, according to those industry
estimates.
TPG ranked as one of the top five websites where banks spent
most of their ad money for credit cards last year, alongside
Facebook, YouTube and others, based on Pathmatics' figures, said
Pathmatics chief marketing officer William Merchan.
Mr. Kelly started TPG as a hobby in 2010, while working in HR at
Morgan Stanley. He had credit-card debt and little savings, but had
amassed hundreds of thousands of points on his corporate credit
card that he was able to use for personal travel. Initially, he
charged people $50 to help them book flights using their
points.
In 2011, banks started paying TPG when readers visiting the
website applied for and received cards.
His first big payday came that year. The JPMorgan British
Airways credit card was offering 100,000 points to certain new
cardholders. Mr. Kelly advised readers against redeeming the points
with British Airways and to instead redeem them for travel on
airlines where the points were worth more. Readers rushed to sign
up for the card. About a month after posting stories about the
card, Mr. Kelly said, he made more than $70,000 -- topping his
annual salary at Morgan Stanley at the time.
Mr. Kelly sold TPG in 2012 for an undisclosed amount. It is now
owned by Red Ventures and has about 60 full-time employees.
Mr. Kelly says none of the reviews TPG publishes are paid for by
banks, airlines or hotels. He also says those companies don't pay
for his or his staff's travel. When TPG buys ads on Facebook and
Google -- at times spending as much as $1 million a month -- they
are billed to Mr. Kelly's business credit cards, and he says he
uses the points he accrues to pay for his and employees'
travel.
Mr. Kelly is often on the phone and in meetings with employees
from JPMorgan, AmEx, Capital One and Wells Fargo & Co., among
others. Some banks consider his advice when they are preparing new
cards or changes to existing rewards programs. For example, Mr.
Kelly recommended for years that Capital One allow for airline
transfer partners, where cardholders can use their points at a
number of airlines. In November, after considering additional input
from customers and others, Capital One announced the addition of
such partners on some cards.
One of TPG's biggest bank clients is JPMorgan. A turning point
for the website came when it helped the bank launch its Sapphire
Reserve card in 2016. Mr. Kelly recommended a live online Q&A
session with a senior bank executive and other coverage. TPG earned
millions of dollars from the card in the months after it was
introduced, as droves of the website's readers signed up for
it.
Mr. Kelly's Instagram account highlights a lifestyle of
high-price travel that rewards cards can pay for, boasting photos
of him in a hammock in Bora Bora and views of Cape Town from a
luxury hotel.
His Manhattan awards party -- which showered accolades on
categories such as No-Fee Card of the Year and Best Hotel Loyalty
Program -- attracted guests such as figure skater Adam Rippon,
Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee and pop star Bebe Rexha. For
more than an hour, bank executives and their counterparts from
hotel chains and airlines took to the stage to accept awards.
The price tag for the black-tie affair was about $1.5 million,
according to a person familiar with the matter. TPG paid about
$250,000, the person said.
The banks and hotels paid the rest.
Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 24, 2019 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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