Rocket Companies’ return to the Super Bowl on Sunday marked not only a milestone for the company’s calculated rebrand but a new level of connection between the financial services sector and online influencers.
While many mortgage professionals have taken to apps like TikTok, LinkedIn and Instagram to make housing-related content, the influencers who posted “reaction” videos to the Sunday singalong ad are not related to the housing space.
For example, Campbell Puckett, a social media influencer who is known by her nickname “Pookie,” posted a video reaction to the ad with her husband, Jett Puckett. Campbell has 1.4 million followers on TikTok and 1.3 million on Instagram. Her accounts boast videos and photos about the couple’s date night outfits, luxury travel and their new daughter.
Campbell’s video, which was disclosed as a paid partnership with Rocket, had more than 545,000 views as of Monday afternoon.
In an interview with HousingWire about this year’s commercial, chief marketing officer Jonathan Mildenhall said that Rocket made a conscious choice to not use celebrity talking heads in their commercial. The company previously featured celebrities like Jason Momoa and Tracy Morgan.
“I’ve always believed that while celebrities and humor are entertaining, they can create noise. People remember the star but forget the brand,” Mildenhall sai. “I hope that every American who dreams of owning a home sees themselves in our brand narrative [this year].”
The Puckett family isn’t the only influencer page posting about the Rocket ad. The Basement Gang, a trio of friends who post dance videos to a whopping 7.5-million-person audience, also posted a paid partnership ad of them singing along to the ad from the Super Bowl. The video, posted with the hashtags #OwnTheDream and #TakeMeHomeRocket, had garnered 4.1 million views on TikTok as of Monday afternoon.
Internet personality Tianna Robillard and Joey Graziadei, a former star on “The Bachelor,” posted similar videos to their 2.3 million and 420,000 followers, respectively. They used the same hashtags and indicated a paid partnership with Detroit-based Rocket.
