The Rock Honors: An Annual Event With A Timely Twist

Jessie DiBattista2-Minute Read
UPDATED: February 27, 2024

You don’t have to be famous to attend a high-class award show, you just have to be a team member at the Rocket Companies^®!

We call this annual event The Rock Honors. Over a dozen business areas within the Rocket Companies^® attend their very own award show to see their fellow team members win a Rock Honors trophy for their achievements throughout the year. However, due to COVID-19, we had to adapt to a new normal and rethink how this common practice would look and feel.

The Show Must Go On

The beauty of Rock Honors is that everyone comes together to celebrate each other. You might think that stripping away the in-person gatherings due to COVID-19 might make this event less high energy, right? Absolutely not. Instead, our Rock Central Event team saw this as an opportunity.

The show traditionally consists of loud music, live-stage performances and a cocktail party following. Due to health restrictions, we couldn’t do any of that. Instead, our team found a better way and took the whole show virtual.

Each show had its own unique traits, but most importantly, all the shows were held in a virtual way where team members could enjoy them from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

We traded a live show and celebration for a prerecorded talent show, QR code giveaways and an extremely active chat room so team members could congratulate their peers.

An Opportunity For Creative

The Event team worked in conjunction with the Rocket Mortgage^® Marketing Creative team to design, brand the creative and produce and direct videos.

Instead of designing for huge pullup banners, lighting and stage design, the Creative team had to evolve and establish creative collateral for a digital space. The look and feel had to be loud and exciting but exist in a virtual setting.

In addition, our commercial breaks are known for their cheeky and funny satire, so this year we wanted to keep up that same tone, and our Video Production team decided to curate funny commercial breaks that echoed the nature of working from home.

A Different Look But The Same Meaning

In the end, the look and feel of the event might have been a little different, but the core stayed the same: Keeping our team members in the spotlight.

Jessie DiBattista

Jessie DiBattista is a Copywriter on the Rocket Mortgage Marketing Creative team. Her business area focuses on internal communications for our amazing team members. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Oakland University.

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