Rocket Mortgage expanded its “American Dream” marketing platform with the premiere of a new 30-second spot, “Room to Dream,” during the Christmas Day broadcast of the Detroit Lions versus Minnesota Vikings game on Netflix. Featuring Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, the spot utilizes a dual-sided set positioned at the 50-yard line of Ford Field to bridge the gap between football and home ownership.
Developed internally by the Dream Factory creative team, the campaign emphasizes the emotional connection built as sports are often first viewed and experienced in childhood homes.
Here’s what iSpot’s Creative Assessment platform revealed on actual viewer response to the spot.
The Details:
- The consumer response data for the :30 spot “Room to Dream” featuring Jahmyr Gibbs showed a highly effective creative that successfully leveraged a powerful combination of NFL draw and a relatable, inspiring message to drive brand engagement:
- The ad outperformed mortgage category norms (past year) across nearly every key performance indicator, including Attention (89th percentile), Likeability (82nd), and Watchability (82nd), establishing strong breakthrough and broad appeal across age/gender.
- The message was cited as the Single Best Thing about the ad at an above-norm rate (28% of all viewers vs 24% norm), followed by the visuals (19% vs 10% benchmark). This indicates that the core narrative about having “room to dream” was the most impressionable element for American viewers, with Desire (93rd percentile) and Relevance (95th) well above-norm.
- With an emotionally connective Narrative, the story inspired but Information delivery (at norm) and brand recall (62% unaided) suggest some viewers were slightly confused about the specific mortgage services offered or unsure of the product. In fact, about one in five named a different brand as the advertiser with the majority of these mentions being the NFL.
- The ad outperformed mortgage category norms (past year) across nearly every key performance indicator, including Attention (89th percentile), Likeability (82nd), and Watchability (82nd), establishing strong breakthrough and broad appeal across age/gender.
- Linked to a perception of moderate information delivery, consumer intent (39%) came in at, but not above, the category benchmark (38%).
- Given the high breakthrough and strong resonance, the brand could consider heavying up media spend especially on sports-related programming to maximize reach:
- Future iterations could benefit from a more direct tie between the Inspiring narrative and specific Rocket product features to address confusion and shore up the link to the brand. With relatively minor adjustments (earlier branding, explicit connection copy), this creative platform could be even more effective by retaining the emotion but adding some clarity.
- The inspirational messaging, as intended, was the ad’s key strength. Viewers felt inspired, motivated, and emotionally moved. However, many viewers couldn’t connect the football narrative to mortgage services. The metaphorical leap from “achieving NFL dreams” to “achieving homeownership dreams” didn’t land as easily as earlier campaign iterations. There is an opportunity to amplify the ‘so what’ for Rocket Mortgage.
- Viewer sentiment also reflected positive impact from the high production value (visuals in particular) while Jahmyr Gibbs worked for NFL/sports fans but alienated some in the non-sports audiences. Continuing media focus on sports programming as the brand has been doing will deliver the intended audience.
- Some viewers felt the ad wasn’t “for them,” but broader relatability can continue to be developed with multiple creatives.
- Future iterations could benefit from a more direct tie between the Inspiring narrative and specific Rocket product features to address confusion and shore up the link to the brand. With relatively minor adjustments (earlier branding, explicit connection copy), this creative platform could be even more effective by retaining the emotion but adding some clarity.
Sample comments on the “Room to Dream” :30
“Good visuals, narration, and I’m sure the ad’s spokesperson would spark someone’s interest – I myself don’t know anything about football. I liked the motivational quality of the narrative and the relationship with one’s dreams.”
Male 36-49
“I thought it was very touching and relatable. I love the visual at the end of him stepping out of his bedroom and onto the football field.”
Female 36-49
“The NFL wants to inspire the youth and those around them to keep dreaming and to keep looking at the progress of the football game.”
Male 21-35
“It was kinda confusing at first, but it slowly got better. I thought it was advertising for an upcoming movie, not a brand.”
Female 36-49
“It was confusing. Is the point of the commercial to buy a home? Is his dream not to be a professional athlete, but to actually own a home? I can’t seem to wrap my head around how this is for Rocket Mortgage.”
Female 21-35
“I honestly didn’t understand the message for this ad. I think that it was all over the place and very confusing.”
Male 50+
“I have no idea what ‘Rocket’ it is. What was being advertised? The cinematic style and edit of the ad was great and I loved that and it kept me watching, but left me wondering what it is.”
Female 21-35
“I’m confused. It said NFL at the beginning, and then Rocket at the end. I don’t know what product this is advertising or what I am supposed to take away, other than that you have to work hard and dream big to be in the NFL.”
Female 50+
“It starts with the NFL, but then you realize by the end it’s nothing to do with the product in the ad.”
Male 21-35
“It was a good ad that caught my attention, but did not tell me how it can help me.”
Male 36-49
“I’m confused as to how the scenes shown in this ad relate to the company that is advertising.”
Female 36-49
“I like that it incorporated an authentic person talking about how dreams are ever evolving.”
Female 36-49
“I think the advertisement and message was very inspiring, especially to young adults.”
Male 36-49
- When compared to other recent Rocket Mortgage spots, “Room to Dream” was a consistent performer, but trailed the high-impact spots launched earlier in the year:
- The campaign’s hero spots, “Own the Dream” (Super Bowl) and “The American Dream” (03/24/25), delivered significantly higher overall response (Ace Scores) and much stronger consumer intent (57% for both):
- Interestingly, the “Own the Dream” :15 cut-down performed nearly identically to the :30 “Room to Dream” in overall Ace Score and actually achieved higher intent (45% vs. 39%), suggesting the earlier campaign spots without forcing the NFL link were more efficient regardless of ad length.
- The campaign’s hero spots, “Own the Dream” (Super Bowl) and “The American Dream” (03/24/25), delivered significantly higher overall response (Ace Scores) and much stronger consumer intent (57% for both):
- Rocket Mortgage’s “Room to Dream” held a competitive edge in purchase/visit against New Day Financial’s most recent lineup, though it mirrored them in overall creative resonance:
- “Room to Dream” was importantly one of the most connective recent mortgage ads among viewers 21-35:
Ineffective creative, even if delivered to the right audience, results in missed opportunity and performance shortfalls. Great creative delivered poorly also results in failed campaigns.
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Creative Agency: Mirimar