Citi Strata Elite^SM Card (See rates and fees.)

Citibank has a new ad campaign for the Strata Elite card featurig Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, voice of Anna in Frozen, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) called ‘That’s the Point.’

The creative director behind the campaign explains the partnership with Bell, “with Kristen Bell as our spokesperson, we’ve got the right mix of approachable, aspirational, and entertaining — exactly what premium card customers want today.”

In two spots that have been released, she’s on vacation with her ‘family’ because it’s an opportunity to relax with her points, and she relaxes in the Admiral’s Club thanks to the card. The ads are actually funny.

“I live for a fancy dinner where I don’t have any idea what I’m eating….just eat your points, sweetie.”

According to Bell,

I can’t help it — I’m obsessed with earning points. That’s why teaming up with Citi on the Citi Strata Elite Card was a natural fit. I love that it has rewards I’ll actually use. Whether I’m traveling to a new destination, grabbing dinner with friends, or planning my next family trip, the premium benefits and rewards make all of my purchases feel smarter. Plus, it’s my first-ever metal card, so pulling it out of my wallet feels pretty chic. I can’t wait to see all the adventures my Citi Strata Elite Card will take me on.

American Airlines Boeing 787-9

Kristen Bell hasn’t always been an American Airlines and Citibank loyalist. She loves JetBlue’s food and helped launch the Amex Everyday cards a decade ago. The Amex connection was explained to me at the time as ‘she’s a mom’ (product fit) and ‘she was within our budget’.

The $595 annual fee Citi Strata Elite^SM Card has an incredible initial bonus offer of 100,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. (Current Strata Premier and Prestige customers are not excluded, even.)

• Those points transfer to a variety of airline and hotel programs, now even including American AAdvantage. By the way, this card earns AAdvantage miles faster than the American Airlines cards to (even unbonused spend with this card earns 1.5x, versus just 1 mile per dollar with American Airlines cobrands).

• Many of the card’s annual benefits are on a calendar year basis so you have the opportunity to take advantage of them twice in your first cardmember year: the $300 hotel benefit for 2+ night stays booked through Citi Travel; the $200 Splurge credit (take it for American Airlines travel!), and $100 in Blacklane credits twice each year. That’s $1,200 in credits you can potentially reap in cardmember year 1 if you’re approved now.

• The card offers benefits including Priority Pass (which includes two guests) plus Priority Pass for authorized cardmembers as well; protections like Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption coverage, Trip Delay coverage, and Lost or Damaged Luggage; and four American Airlines Admirals Club passes each calendar year.

If the 100,000 points are worth roughly $1,500 and the credits another easy $1,200 that’s $2,700 during the first cardmember year, without accounting for Priority Pass or Admiral’s Club lounge access.

For the card’s Splurge credit I just buy an American Airlines ticket. And the $300 hotel credit is easy to use – I just won’t use it when I want to apply elite benefits (since it’s a travel portal booking).

Citi Strata Elite^SM Card