MANILA – Why pay in plastic when you can settle your bills in gold – literally?
This is one the main come-ons of the Aurae Lifestyle Membership Program, whose members receive the Aurae Solid Gold MasterCard, which is made from 14k and 18k gold.
For Aurae Lifestyle CMO Terrence Thomas, this fully functional debit card is indeed a statement item. “Everything that we do is bespoke. It’s customized and it’s personal,” he told ABS-CBN News in an interview.
Thomas was in town for the Asian Poker Tour, whose Players’ Party was sponsored by Aurae and held at Resorts World Manila over the weekend.
According to a company statement distributed by PR Newswire, it developed a patented process that facilitates jewelling and engraving custom designs onto each card, allowing “each member to have their legacy and success elegantly expressed in a unique way to share their passions and tell their story.”
Aurae conducts a design consultation to create a one of a kind card for each member, which can have up to 164 embedded precious stones. The member's name and signature are engraved into each card “to symbolize the lasting impact of their legacy.”
“We help design a card based on what’s meaningful to them,” explained Thomas, citing a member who is an aviation enthusiast and whose card sports a cockpit design.
“It’s amazing, the detail of the cockpit. But it’s what’s important to him and he is very proud of that,” Thomas said. “When they do mundane tasks like buy dinner, it reminds them of what’s important to them, who they are, what their core values are. We connect the payment with the lifestyle.”
Members also receive their card presented in a hand-crafted heirloom marquetry box that is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and an elegantly designed hand-stitched leather wallet with a unique central pocket for the card. The card is also insured by Lloyd's of London, allowing for ease of replacement in the event of loss or theft.
Concierge services
But more than a debit card, Aurae Lifestyle is really about belonging to an elite club as membership at the moment is by invitation only.
Apart from the card, members get to enjoy personal concierge services and exclusive access to VIP events worldwide.
“We help provide a level of service to our clients to make their life better and easier and more meaningful. At the end of the day, we want people to experience life at its fullest. Whether it’s a payment vehicle, whether it’s a lifestyle vehicle, whether it’s a legacy kind of story – those are all important things that help our clients,” Thomas said.
To illustrate, Walker Posey of The Augusta Management Group cited Aurae’s experience at the recent US Masters.
“We were able to have several clients have very unique experiences where we actually brought in PGA tour players to have dinners and lunches. We were able to give behind the scenes and make sure they are at the right spot and just being able to enjoy that experience at a different level that you typically wouldn’t if you would just show up and have a ticket. We try to do that along in any event that’s meaningful to our clients,” he said.
And this is what differentiates Aurae from other premium credit
cards, Thomas stressed.
“Other concierge services were kind of canned. They were just kind of a concierge services in name but when it came to delivering high-end experiences, they couldn’t deliver,” he said.
“So that is kind of how we created and tailored our lifestyle programs around - helping our clients have experiences that typically couldn’t be available to the general public. That involves relationships. I think it really just comes down to us having the ability to have the relationship with the right people.”
Manila center?
Meanwhile, Thomas also revealed that the company is considering setting up a concierge center in Manila to service clients in the region.
As for prospective Filipino members, he noted that one advantage of owning an Aurae card is that it allows easy access to their money when traveling abroad.
“You go to the bank, you only get X number. For the high-end consumer, it’s very helpful to access their money on the road without any friction,” Thomas said.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
