On the heels of our first-ever Agent Appreciation month, Inman is leaping into February with our Residential Finance theme month. Join us as we investigate how buying and selling a home is changing, from companies backing consumers in new ways to integrated services that handle the entire transaction.
While millions tuned into the Super Bowl last night for the action on the field, there was another battle taking place during the commercial break. United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), one of the nation’s largest volume lenders, took a shot at Quicken Loans, the official mortgage sponsor of the NFL.
The ad, first reported by Housing Wire, opened with a shot at the Quicken Loans’ rocket logo and brand imagery, before highlighting the company’s FindAMortgageBroker.com, platform.
But despite the not-so-discreet shot from UWM, the company didn’t quite have the star power that Quicken Loans displayed. Quicken Loans’ ad — more than double the length of UWM’s — featured action star Jason Momoa and his wife Lisa Bonet. The advertisement, which feature a scrawny, bald Momoa, even made Adweek’s top 10 Super Bowl commercials.
The two companies are competing in the same space, but don’t exactly offer the same services. UWM is a wholesale lender, while Quicken Loans is a direct-to-consumer retail lender.
Lenders weren’t the only real estate companies to throw down big dollars for Super Bowl ads, where the average cost for a 30-second spot was a record-breaking $5.2 million this year, according to NBC Sports. Apartments.com had actor Jeff Goldblum, their usual spokesperson, playing his Brad Bellflower character once again, although the company hasn’t made the advertisement available online yet.
So while the Super Bowl will likely be remembered as star Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ first win, as the Kansas City Chiefs topped the San Francisco 49ers by a 31-20 final score, it will also be remembered by some as the day we saw a muscle-less Jason Momoa in a bald cap.
