When are Quicken loans renamed as Rocket Mortgage in July 2021, it sought to align the product with its parent company’s (Rocket Companies) brand while showcasing its use of technology throughout the home buying process.
Now that it has gained some notoriety with the new name, Rocket Mortgage is giving its brand a facelift.
In partnership with the leading creative agency Miramar and global design and innovation studio Otherway, the brand has evolved its tone, narrative, look and feel, debuting with a new campaign early next year.
The agencies spent nine months studying the anatomy of iconic brands like Airbnb, Apple and Nike to better understand how to position Rocket in the same way.
“I’m not going to rest until Rocket is one of the iconic brands in North America,” Jonathan Mildenhall, Rocket’s chief marketing officer (CEO), told ADWEEK.
“When you work with Jonathan, the ambition is always high,” added Jono Holt, founder of Otherway. “The bar is set quite high, which is quite exciting. It was a unique briefing where you work with such ambitious people who want to create something so special.
Making Mortgages Emotional
Aware of the challenges presented by this category, the teams ultimately came up with a concept that draws on the emotion of buying a home.
“Mortgages are a bit of barren territory in terms of marketing and communications, but one of the most emotional things you’ll do in your life is buy a home or refinance a property,” Holt said. “How to create an iconic brand? It’s all about emotion and feeling.
He added that the goal was to capture the pride of buying a first home, as well as the emotions people experience during the process: “ecstatic happiness, unprecedented sadness.”
Mildenhall, who was Airbnb’s chief marketing officer, called the project the most public rebranding he’s ever been involved in, noting that it will be reflected in Cleveland’s cityscapes, where the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers also called Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse home. like Detroit, where Rocket is headquartered.
Under the hood
Holt said he and his team spent a lot of time in Detroit over the past year, as Otherway set up a branded studio there to support the project.
Mildenhall and his team are not just focused on an outward-facing refresh, but on simplifying the home buying process on the Rocket platform.
“If Rocket wants to grow market share, we need to make things simpler for our customers, reduce complexity, reduce friction and basically build an all-in-one destination,” he said. “The younger the audience, the less patient they are with complexity and friction. »
“Businesses have taken advantage of creating confusion and that feeling of difficulty,” Holt added. “How can we make it more accessible and less confusing?” It’s all about making it easier to use and making life less complicated for people. »
