Guaranteed Rate makes its national Super Bowl debut with a 60-second spot

Guaranteed Rate is the latest company jumping into the Super Bowl for the first time and the mortgage lender is coming armed with dramatic footage of athletes from various sports, but not football, in its quest to capture the attention of viewers during a major surge in business. Like many other first-time Big Game advertisers, Guaranteed Rate is in the midst of tremendous growth during the coronavirus pandemic, funding more than $73 billion in 2020. As mortgage rates fell, Guaranteed Rate’s mortgage originations doubled in 2020 from the year before, and it had already seen 50% growth in 2019. The 60-second “Believe You Will” spot opens with shots of athletes including UFC’s Dustin Poirier and Rose Namajunas, NHL’s Seth Jones, Nascar’s Ryan Newman and U.S. figure skater Starr Andrews. Then, it shifts to a message around the dream of buying a home or refinancing, showcasing the brand. The athletes Guaranteed Rate works with aren’t all household names but have powerful stories, such as Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest, who is shown in the spot. “We feel like the stories of these ambassadors are a true reflection of our company culture, and company philosophy,” says Chief Marketing Officer Steve Moffat. The concept, he says, originated with the company’s CEO, Victor Ciardelli. The spot was produced in-house, with footage from the sports it sponsors, including UFC, along with Guaranteed Rate’s own shots. The ad is voiced by motivational speaker and coach Eric Thomas. It is set to run during the game’s fourth quarter. The “Believe You Will” campaign began running in late December. Then the spot was updated to include footage from UFC fighter Poirier’s late January knockout of Conor McGregor, one of the sport's biggest stars. The campaign was not made with the Super Bowl in mind, with the decision made in recent days after the work was completed. “We had a feeling that we were onto something special but sometimes you don’t know until the work is finished,” says Moffat. Plus, the mortgage business is hot, giving more of an incentive for the Big Game buy. “The housing market right now is unlike any we’ve seen in our lifetime,” says Moffat, noting the historically low mortgage rates, plus people spending a lot of time in their homes. And, adds Chief Creative Officer Charley Wickman, with millennials, the largest generation group in the country, getting older and starting families, “you have this huge wave of people” interested in buying homes. Guaranteed Rate did not disclose how much it spent on the airtime, which was secured in recent days. It previously ran a spot in a limited number of markets during the 2016 Super Bowl. The 2021 spot is its first national, in-game ad. “We need to find big stages,” says Wickman. Guaranteed Rate has been diving into a variety of sports-related marketing in recent years following its 2016 move that renamed U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, to Guaranteed Rate Field.

Guaranteed Rate makes its national Super Bowl debut with a 60-second spot

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