Latest news with #TakeMeHomeCountryRoads'
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
West Virginia anthem makes Super Bowl commercial history
(WBOY) — A cover of John Denver's 'Take Me Home Country Roads' played on a commercial during Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, and the ad was the first of its kind. The commercial itself was in a format that Super Bowl viewers are used to seeing—a well-known heartfelt song plays over clips meant to pull on your heartstrings. In this case, the West Virginia anthem played over clips of people moving home, including families and military members as part of Rocket Companies' 'Own the Dream integrated marketing campaign.' The commercial ended with a crowd of voices singing and the words 'Everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream. Own the Dream,' flashed across the screen. Then, the broadcast cut back to the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, where tens of thousands of fans were singing along to 'Take me Home Country Roads.' Super Bowl LIX highlights: Memorable plays, moving tributes and a historic presidential visit According to Rocket, this was the first time that a taped Super Bowl ad transitioned into the live stadium coverage, making Super Bowl history. 'From the start, this was more than a commercial. We set out to create a moment that captures the raw, emotional journey of chasing a dream that once felt out of reach,' Chief Marketing Officer of Rocket Jonathan Mildenhall said in a press release. You can watch the commercial and the Super Bowl stadium singalong here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
How 'Take Me Home Country Roads' Super Bowl singalong came together for Rocket commercial
How 'Take Me Home Country Roads' Super Bowl singalong came together for Rocket commercial Show Caption Hide Caption Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes embraces the spotlight ahead of Super Bowl Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes talks with USA TODAY's Ralphie Aversa about embracing the spotlight and Doritos' Super Bowl campaign. Doritos Initially, Rocket Mortgage was rebuffed in its effort to stage a Super Bowl singalong. A staple of Super Bowl Sunday advertising and a two-time winner of USA TODAY's Ad Meter contest, Rocket's new chief marketing officer, Jonathan Mildenhall, was determined to maximize a campaign built around the use of John Denver's iconic tune, 'Take Me Home, Country Roads.' And after a summit between Rocket and its creative and ad agencies resulted in a creative blurting out something unprecedented – 'Why don't we do a live singalong at the game?' – Mildenhall was obsessed. Yet overtures to Fox Sports were initially rebuffed, citing the many logistics and unusual ask on such short notice. A half-measure – a pre-recorded, pregame singalong – was hatched. 'I agreed on a compromise and honestly my enthusiasm for the idea had diminished from say a 10 out of 10 to an 8 out of 10,' Mildenhall said this week. 'It would still be historic – we'd be shooting and producing an ad in the stadium and that's never been done before. 'But we wouldn't have had that live magic.' Yet just two weeks before Sunday's Super Bowl, Fox Sports had a change of heart. The singalong was a go. 'At that moment in time, I about threw up' says Mildenhall. 'Because the risk is apparent.' And midway through the second quarter Sunday, the vision came into focus. NFL Network reporter Colleen Wolfe beseeched the crowd inside the Superdome to embrace the moment and, moments after the Philadelphia Eagles kicked a field goal to take a 10-0 lead. Fans on the stadium screen were engaged in the moment, and shortly thereafter, it was back to football. With that, the annals of Super Bowl advertising can cross off yet another, as Mildenhall calls them, 'NBDBs,' or, Never Been Done Before. Certainly there have been live activations within the game before. In 2023, the NFL's ad featured a plausibly live shot of Erin Andrews – she'd dressed in the same outfit to pre-record the bit – within the stadium as the protagonist of the commercial, flag football star Diana Flores, eludes stadium staff portrayed by NFL stars. Yet capturing the attention of a live audience, urging them to sing along right on the heels of an advertisement, all within a 15-second window that extends your ad buy to 75 seconds? That's a far trickier proposition than your garden variety card stunt. This is where Rocket anticipated 'Country Roads' would do most of the heavy lifting. While also dovetailing with the former Quicken Loans brand's appeal to potential homeowners, the song crosses cultures deftly, from postgame salutes at West Virginia University to Japanese karaoke bars and cover versions by Lana Del Rey, Toots and the Maytals and Reina del Cid, among others. 'When I really started to appreciate how affectionate Take Me Home, Country Roads is to all demographic groups of America, it was very clear that would be the appropriate bedrock,' says Mildenhall. 'As we started to play it in the commercial, we started to think more ambitiously about not just being an advertiser but being an activator for this year's Super Bowl and get the stadium to sing along just after the commercial break. 'It is unprecedented, but because of the affection America holds for Take Me Home, Country Roads, that in itself is mitigating some of the risk.' Well, scratch another one off the Never Been Done Before list.
