As you might expect of a marketing executive with a distinguished reputation, Jonathan Mildenhall landed his new gig as CMO of Rocket Companies because the CEO called him up.
Varun Krishna, who took the helm at Rocket last summer, knew Mildenhall well. When Krishna held the corner office at TurboTax, he’d been a client of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, the shop Mildenhall started after establishing his marketing bona fides at Coca-Cola (where he launched the “Open Happiness” campaign) and Airbnb, whose $1 billion valuation jumped to $31 billion during his tenure.
But Mildenhall didn’t take the Rocket job because a former client had phoned him. Nor did he take it just because Rocket leads its category, being the largest mortgage lender in the United States. Mildenhall signed on for surprisingly personal reasons.
During that phone call, “I thought about my own experience with home ownership, and that it took me out of poverty,” Mildenhall said. “If the world can care about soda and running shoes and travel, I can definitely get North America to care about home ownership in a way that the category has never seen. That’s why I took the job.”
Coming from another CMO, such talk could be dismissed as sentimental or theatrical. But Mildenhall is sincere. In fact, much of what drives him and the creative energy that flows from him is deeply personal. The day after Rocket announced his hiring, Mildenhall spent half an hour with Adweek to talk about some of what he’s learned, his plans for Rocket’s marketing—and why home ownership remains a driving force in his creative life.
Don’t sell a product—sell how it makes people feel
At Airbnb, Mildenhall’s “Never a Stranger” campaign—which showed renters making friends with locals—proved that consumers don’t respond to brands so much as to the emotional experiences that brands create. And while applying that model to mortgages may not be quite so easy, Mildenhall plans to do it anyway, emphasizing the pride of living under your own roof instead of talking about the numbing details of lending. “We’ll develop what I call the umbrella narrative for Rocket Companies, which is about home ownership, financial prosperity and, ultimately, financial freedom,” he said, “this bigger idea of how important home ownership is to Americans.”
Empathize with your customers
Mildenhall recently came across a 2022 Zillow survey in which a majority of young home buyers (61% of millennials and 65% of Gen Z) admitted to breaking down in tears during the purchase process. He made a mental note of another survey from Redfin where 59% of American said that buying a home is more stressful than dating. Statistics like these, Mildenhall believes, point to the need for marketers to remember the stresses of being a consumer, not just the joys of purchasing. In developing a narrative for Rocket’s products and services, then, “I can help people understand that with Rocket’s companies, we will take the friction out of the process—we will make the process less anxiety-inducing.”
Consumers don’t identify with products—they identify with other consumers
Historically, advertising for a product has espoused its virtues, and that includes financial services like mortgages. It’s a rational approach so far as it goes. But hawking a 6.49% APR isn’t the sort of pitch that Mildenhall feels like making to potential homebuyers. Instead, he wants to spotlight “true, life-changing stories” that come out of buying a home. “Gone are the days of marketing campaigns based on a conceit,” he said. “We’re moving toward authenticity and storytelling, showing people other people who look like them find[ing] the path into home ownership, and all the pride, dignity and security that comes with that.”
Diversity is essential, and it’s up to brands to push for it
As a gay man of color, Mildenhall does not view the topic of diversity as an idealistic objective to keep in mind: He knows it’s essential for any marketing message to be credible and effective. During his agency days in the U.K., Mildenhall led an effort to encourage creative shops to hire more Black and brown employees, “but I don’t think there’s been the same type of industry effort here in the U.S.,” he said. The solution, he believes, is getting brands to compel their agencies to hire more progressively. “The advertising industry needs to do more,” he said, “[and] the catalyst for them doing more is client demand. I would like every client to demand agencies better reflect the communities those clients are serving.”
Your personal challenges can be your deepest inspiration
Mildenhall’s anecdote about home ownership lifting him out of poverty was not an overstatement: Home equity has furnished him more stability than ad industry paychecks. But a deeper lesson lurks here. Mildenhall is one of five boys raised by a single mother in a housing project in the north of England. “I shared a bedroom with my two brothers, and there was mold growing up the walls,” he said. “I remember the annual tradition of scraping off the mold and covering [the walls] with aluminum foil to protect my asthma.” Mildenhall also remembers what it felt like to be gay in the early ’90s, and how Cindy Gallop of Bartle Bogle Hegarty made it safe for him to come out at work. In retrospect, Mildenhall now realizes that his creativity comes from understanding and embracing those experiences. As he puts it: “Unless you step into your authenticity, you will not realize the full potential of your career.”
