Rocket Mortgage isn’t playing around when it comes to this year’s Super Bowl. Sure, rival United Wholesale Mortgage is back with another commercial touting the benefits of consumers using a mortgage broker. But Rocket’s upped the ante, dropping not one, but two new commercials to air on the biggest televised event of the year.
The two 60-second commercials will feature actor and comedian Tracy Morgan, alongside an unnamed movie star, athletes and “influencers” speaking as to why it’s smart to use Rocket Mortgage in the homebuying process.
The first ad will feature the Rocket Mortgage app (where consumers can self-submit a mortgage application), and the other will tout the benefits of using independent mortgage brokers, part of a larger push to drum up business in the wholesale channel.
“COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way people think about their homes,” said Jay Farner, CEO of Rocket Mortgage. “After nearly a year of many people living, working, exercising and learning from home, the pandemic has brought new meaning and significance to the place where we live.
“With our 2021 Super Bowl spots, we are bringing awareness to the importance of home and demonstrating how we continue to enable more Americans to achieve the dream of homeownership – whether through our digital solutions, our skilled mortgage bankers or mortgage brokers in local communities across the country,” Farner said.
This is the fourth year the lender has advertised in the Super Bowl. Apart from the advertisements, Rocket is also the official mortgage partner of the NFL and is running another sweepstakes this year.
Rocket going big on the Super Bowl should come as no surprise. The lender clearly believes spending big on consumer reach is an effective strategy. Given that it’s easily the largest mortgage lender in America – primarily through its direct-to-consumer channel – it’s hard to argue against the strategy.
It will likely cost Rocket somewhere near $20 million to run two 60-second commercials on Sunday night. (The cost of a 30-second commercial in 2019 was about $5.2 million.)
Rocket’s Michigan rival United Wholesale Mortgage is also advertising again on the Super Bowl. The wholesale lender is promoting mortgage brokers and the platform it created several years ago, FindAMortgageBroker.com.
The broker channel is growing quickly, with some projections that wholesale will reach 33% overall marketshare in the next few years. Retail, where Rocket is dominant, is still the largest channel.
Rocket made a stunning $6.55 billion in profits through the first three quarters of 2020, the majority of it through its consumer-direct channel. The lender will release its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 25.
