Under new CMO Jonathan Mildenhall, the company is unifying its portfolio of brands with a new agency roster
Rocket Companies has appointed Publicis Groupe as its media agency of record following a competitive review that was first reported in May.
Publicis and its technology, resources and leadership will work on the account, and Rocket Cos.’ day-to-day media duties will be managed by Publicis-owned Zenith, according to Jonathan Mildenhall, who was appointed the company’s first group chief marketing officer earlier this year.
The review was one of the first major undertakings at Rocket by Mildenhall, who noted this is the first time in his career that he has worked with Publicis from a media perspective. The marketing veteran has been tasked with uniting the Detroit company’s portfolio of companies under one brand voice as it strives to make the most of its $875 million marketing budget. That portfolio includes the likes of Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Rocket Money, Lendesk, Amrock, Core Digital Media and Woodward Capital Management.
“Rocket will now start to benefit from Publicis’ significant media buying clout,” Mildenhall said, adding that a consolidated approach to media investment will give the company a massive economy of scale that contrasts with its previous segregated approach.
Dentsu, led by Carat, was a finalist in the media pitch, Mildenhall confirmed. Carat referred calls to comment to Rocket Cos.
UM formerly managed Rocket Cos.’ media business, though a lot of performance marketing was handled internally, Mildenhall said. UM told Ad Age it handled all of Rocket Cos., with the exception of Rocket Money.
“We are proud of the partnership, business growth and award-winning work we delivered for Rocket Mortgage over the past 6 years,” UM said in a statement. “We wish them continued success in the future.”
New agency roster
Rocket Cos. also has another new partner: Earlier this spring, it appointed independent shop Mirimar as its creative agency of record.
Mildenhall said Rocket Cos.’ goal is to become “one of North America’s most culturally significant brands.”
New work under the new agency roster is expected to debut in the first quarter of 2025.
Rocket is the latest win for Publicis, which has also picked up media business from Lego Group and Hershey this year. The holding company is also boosting its influencer capabilities—last week, it announcedplans to acquire influencer agency Influential—and investing in AI.
Publicis Groupe Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun said in an interview that the holding company has largely been winning new business due to its investments in data and technology, including acquisitions such as Epsilon, its “Power of One” model and its AI-powered talent management tool Marcel.
“We are very pleased about this win for many reasons, but one that matters for me is that it’s also an [opportunity] for us to continue to invest and to grow our talent and our agencies in Detroit, which is a very important city for us,” Sadoun said.
Publicis recently took a hit in the Motor City when Leo Burnett Detroit lost the creative account for Buick, Cadillac and GMC, as part of General Motors’ agency overhaul.
Strategic advisory firm Consello Group worked on the pitch. In April 2023, the company hired longtime ad executive Wendy Clark, appointing her a partner and the CEO of Consello Experience, a division within the advisory firm. Consello’s partners and leadership team also includes Oscar Salazar, previously the founding chief technology officer at Uber; Mindy Grossman, former president and CEO at WW International; and NFL legend Tom Brady.
Mildenhall called out Consello’s data prowess as a helpful asset to managing a review in the heavily regulated financial industry.
“Consello brought best-in-class data consultants to ensure that as we onboard Publicis, that Publicis’ approach to data and Rocket’s approach to data can be integrated in a way that feels incredibly clean,” he said.
In the first quarter, Rocket Cos.’ revenue rose sharply and it posted a net profit of $291 million, reversing a loss in the same period a year earlier. The company is set to report second-quarter results this afternoon. Rocket Cos. has been ramping up its technological prowess, most recently with AI-driven offerings designed to make home-buying easier for consumers. In May, Rocket hired Shawn Malhotra from Thomson Reuters as chief technology officer.
Rocket’s holding company, Rocket Holdings Inc., spent $252 million on U.S. measured media in 2023, according to Vivvix, which includes paid social data from Pathmatics, down from the $316 million it spent in 2022. The Rocket Mortgage brand spent $151 million on U.S. measured media last year, a decline from $217 million in 2022.
Read the original article in AdAge here.
