Rocket Puede™ Interview With Wilson Santiago, Multicultural Campaign Manager

3-Minute ReadPUBLISHED: October 28, 2020

Share:

Please introduce yourself and your job title, tell us about how you came to Rocket Mortgage®. Why do you stay at the company?

Wilson Santiago: My name is Wilson Santiago, born and raised in Puerto Rico. I am part of the Rocket Mortgage® Marketing team and my role is a Multicultural Campaign Manager for the brand. I was hired 5 years ago while I was working down in Puerto Rico in a nonprofit bank. The story of Detroit and how Dan Gilbert was impacting the city helped me make the decision to accept the offer and move to Michigan. It’s been great being part of the company. I started as a banker helping Spanish speaking clients reach the American dream and now I’m able to strategize and create our campaign for the Hispanic/Spanish speaking audience.

I’ve stayed in the company and see my future in it because of its culture. I have never seen a company that values so much giving back to the community and its team members.

Can you please describe the Rocket Puede campaign in your own words?

Santiago: Rocket Puede is the extension of our brand campaign Rocket CanTM. This campaign has been designed and strategized making sure we are being culturally relevant to the Hispanic/Spanish speaking audience.

Tell us about your team, what do you do and how did you come up with the idea for the Rocket Puede campaign?

Santiago: Our team is composed of four campaign managers that are focused on creating campaigns to expand our brand name all around the U.S. We manage all the campaigns that are created for the Rocket Mortgage® brand, including college sports, NFL and cause, multicultural and general market campaigns.

The Rocket Puede campaign was created when the team presented the general market campaign Rocket Can. After reviewing the amazing job the team had done creating that concept, I immediately started strategizing on how we could adapt it to the Hispanic/Spanish speaking audience. In Spanish the word “puede” is an empowering word. It reinforces that YOU CAN do something. So it was really a no brainer to create a campaign around these two words.

Tell us about this new national Rocket Puede spot, what is the story behind it?

Santiago: In the next couple of days, the Spanish-speaking audience will be seeing several spots that were created for the Rocket Puede  campaign. Each of them was created to talk about a cultural moment that we as Hispanics can identify, too. For example, the first spot that will go live mid-October focuses on an Afro-Caribbean Hispanic who is THE BOSS-LA JEFA called “Take Control.” In this spot, we see a super Latina mom making the decision and taking control of the home buying process. We showcase how with a Verified Approval from Rocket Mortgage®, she has that confidence to be the person who is in charge of the negotiations when placing an offer. We also can see how her daughter looks at her as that role model and the person she wants to be when she grows up. At the end of the spot we can see how the family comes together in a proud moment and how the husband and son admire the mom as the JEFA of the home.

What were the highlights of working on this phase of our Rocket Puede campaign?

Santiago: Working with multicultural campaigns is more than a job for me, it’s a passion. Everything around this campaign was a highlight from strategizing, connecting with the right Hispanic creative agency to bring the idea to life and interviewing the talent to make sure they connected the right way with the audience. Every time I see the progress while we are in post-production and reviewing is the highlight of this work.

What has been the most fulfilling part of seeing the Hispanic community represented on a large scale by the largest mortgage lender in America?

Santiago: This is easy. The most fulfilling part is that I’m able to assist my community. I am Hispanic, these are my people, so I want to make sure that the power of America’s largest mortgage lender is at their hands.

As a company, why was it important for us to make sure our Spanish speaking clients were fully supported?

Santiago: Every Client. Every Time. No exceptions. No Excuses. Because it is in our blood, in our company’s culture, in our ISMs. We want to make sure that we are able to reach every person that needs our help in the mortgage process. It does not matter if you are ready or not, we will make sure to assist you.

Check out the Rocket Puede commercial here.