The agency worked with Rocket for a three-month trial period, which turned into Mirimar getting the AOR designation.
“Like Jonathan, we share the same belief of elevating brands to something more ownable, more human, and bigger than their category,” said Mirimar co-founder Luke McKelvey.
A more empathetic tone
Mildenhall acknowledged that the brand has done well with entertaining marketing, but he has said in the past that he wants the brands he works with to take a more empathetic approach to better connect with consumers. That will be how Rocket shows up under his leadership, as a more compassionate company.
“I’m moving the creative agenda from entertaining America to moving America, telling honest stories about the ups and downs of home purchase, home financing, so that the country will see Rocket as a really authentic brand that understands exactly how challenging it is to purchase or refinance a house, and what we’re doing about it to make it easier,” said Mildenhall.
He hopes to elevate the narrative about the cultural significance of home ownership, and how it’s a fundamental building block of the American dream.
“We cannot lose faith and confidence that that dream is no longer relevant to this next generation of homebuyers,” said Mildenhall, adding that Rocket has to work hard to develop products that make it easier for young people to get into properties in the first place and educate them so they feel less intimidated.
Luke McKelvey added that he believes one of the challenges the agency and brand have is to not be tone deaf, to make sure they understand the challenges people who are buying a home are facing and expressing that empathetically.
Mildenhall has a personal connection to home ownership and the confidence it can bring. Growing up in the north of England, he shared a “moldy bedroom” with his younger brothers. As a young Black man, he never thought home ownership would be in his future, but after landing a job at a London ad agency, he was able to purchase a small home at age 24.
“The first time I turned the keys and stepped inside this tiny little two-room house, I felt a sense of pride, dignity, identity, safety, security and achievement that I didn’t realize that people who looked like me, that came from the same communities as I, could feel,” he recalled.
He hopes to bring that pride to the current generation of Black and brown potential homeowners, who, by 2030, will be the majority of new home purchasers.
