Rocket Cos. names Jonathan Mildenhall first group CMO

Rocket Cos., the Detroit-based owner of Rocket Mortgage and Rocket Homes, has a new top marketer. The company announced the hire of Jonathan Mildenhall, a veteran marketer who most recently ran his own brand consultancy, as its first group chief marketing officer. Mildenhall, who begins his new position on Jan. 8, is tasked with unifying the different Rocket products and offerings into one brand voice. All of Rocket’s existing marketing and communications employees, including Rocket Mortgage’s CMO Casey Hurbis, will report to Mildenhall. Taking on a first-time CMO role is nothing new for the executive, who worked as the first chief marketer at Airbnb from 2014 to 2018, a period that included the home-sharing service’s first Super Bowl spot in 2017. Prior to Airbnb, he spent seven years at Coca-Cola. More recently, Mildenhall was also the first CMO of Dave, a digital banking company, in 2020. Mildenhall plans to continue as chairman of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, the brand and marketing consultancy he co-founded six years ago. The entity, which has worked with clients including Walmart, PepsiCo and NextDoor, was acquired late last year by Common Interest. The marketer joins Rocket under new CEO Varun Krishna, who started in the role in September. Rocket’s longtime CEO Jay Farner, who was formerly CMO of its Quicken Loans business, retired last year. Krishna plans to invest in AI. Rocket’s third-quarter revenue declined 7% to $1.2 billion compared to the year-earlier period, it reported. Net income was $115 million. Despite several months of record highs, mortgage rates appear to be falling back down to earth, which could spur an increase in home buying.

Rocket Cos. names Jonathan Mildenhall first group CMO

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