Why Pennymac is launching its first sports sponsorship at the Olympics

Mortgage brand Pennymac has secured its first sports sponsorship at the Olympics as the Games head stateside for the first time since 2002—presenting brands connected to U.S. culture with a rare opportunity. Pennymac will be the official mortgage supporter of the 2026 and 2028 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams and a supporter of the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. In 2028, Pennymac’s hometown of Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics for the first time since 1984. “The idea that the Olympics and Paralympics are coming home to U.S. soil … there is a ton of excitement around that,” said Susan Hallock, chief marketing officer of Pennymac. “The fact that it’s coming to our hometown where we’re headquartered is something that’s meaningful to us.” Pennymac today announced its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams with a campaign called “Where Greatness Lives,” which draws parallels between Team USA athletes and aspiring homeowners. It briefly features Olympians Caeleb Dressel and Laurie Hernandez. The campaign was created by Pennymac’s internal creative team and media agency Wpromote, while Elevate Brand facilitated the Olympics sponsorship. Pennymac will run its ad on social and digital channels. The Summer Olympic Games coming to Los Angeles in the same year Pennymac celebrates its 20th anniversary was too serendipitous to pass up, Hallock said. She added that the diverse viewership of the Olympics matches the audience with which Pennymac is looking to increase brand awareness. The brand has historically focused its marketing on its existing consumer base. “We looked at people who are in our portfolio … and we looked at the demographics of that group,” Hallock said. “That group very much over-indexes in sports viewership, which is a common trait for homeowners in general,” she added, noting this group is especially attracted to the Olympics. Pennymac will announce endorsements of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls in the coming months. It will also highlight homeownership stories of current, former and hopeful Olympic and Paralympic athletes in a recently launched educational video series “Bring It Home,” which answers top-of-mind questions consumers have on Pennymac’s website and YouTube channel. Brands have been eager to secure corporate sponsors of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Event organizers said they’re on track to reach about $2 billion in secured corporate sponsorships by the end of the year, according to a Feb. 27 report from the Los Angeles Times, bringing them close to their goal of reaching $2.5 billion in sponsorships to help cover the $7 billion budget for the event. Sponsors include Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cisco, Autodesk and Cedars-Sinai. Nike and Delta are also reported to have signed major deals early on. “It would not surprise me if we do three or four [times] the sponsorship deals this year, from a dollar standpoint, than we did all of last year,” John Slusher, chief executive of LA28’s commercial operation, said in the report. Pennymac’s competitors have also ramped up sports marketing efforts. During the Cleveland Cavaliers-Miami Heat game tonight, Rocket Companies will air a new ad building off of its ambitious Super Bowl spot that included a live stadium-wide singalong of the song that played in its ad, a reimagined version of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The new ad is a one-minute alternate cut of the brand’s Super Bowl spot with new narration acknowledging how out-of-reach homeownership feels for most Americans while asserting it’s still possible. (Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert co-founded Rocket Companies.) According to Hallock, Pennymac’s decision to increase its brand-building efforts comes as economists predict some stability for mortgage rates after years of increasing rates. “The last couple of years of the market have been a little bit volatile and directions are indicating that there’ll be more opportunity as the size of the market is going to start increasing,” Hallock said. “As the second largest mortgage producer, we intend to take our more than fair share of the growth of that market.”

Why Pennymac is launching its first sports sponsorship at the Olympics

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