• by Sarah Mahoney , June 23, 2026

Zillow thinks the World Cup — the year's largest public stage — makes an ideal backdrop for its latest brand campaign, this one from Johannes Leonardo.

In many ways, the new work builds on the "Someday Starts Today" platform launched earlier this year. But this new step, says Jennifer Berger, Zillow's vice president of creative and media, "moves us more from awareness to participation. These ads are less about what we, as a company, believe and more about what people can do to reach those goals. We wanted to make optimism feel tangible rather than aspirational."

While there are still many obstacles for people looking for new homes, there are also signs across the U.S. that the market is improving for buyers, even if it remains well below pre-pandemic norms. "But every day, we see people pulling it off," Berger tells Marketing Daily. "They are buying homes and signing leases."

Zillow developed the ongoing "Someday Starts Today" work with 72andSunny, which continues as its agency of record. But many people still think of Zillow primarily as a real-estate search engine. Johannes Leonardo uncovered insights around that perception gap — and how to move people toward Zillow's broader suite of tools, which include mortgage services, financing and rental applications.

The goal of the new work is to give a wink to the modern definition of "someday," Berger says — the sense it's something that will just never happen. So the campaign layers ads and social imagery designed to meet people at the moment they're ready to act, using street casting to shake off the glossy perfectionism that surrounds so many real-estate ads.

Cast members — ranging from young singles and families to gleeful downsizers — are candid about how rough the journey was. "It wasn't easy," they say. "It's a step I'd always imagined but felt so far out of reach." It all ends with the same happy destination: home.

Launching during World Cup mania gave Zillow a chance to build on that foundation. The effort also includes profiles of noted soccer players, focusing on their journeys, to further bring home the message of home. This one, for example, follows defender Steven Moreira, born in France to Cape Verdean parents, who traded a career in French club football for a sunny apartment in Columbus, Ohio — and a chance to represent his ancestral homeland on the world's biggest stage.

Rival Rocket is also rolling out new creative, focusing on its own people. Eleven real employees share their personal journeys to home ownership, and what it means to work for a company that helps others do the same. Each team member featured in the commercial gets their own social profile, with posts about their home ownership stories distributed throughout the campaign's run.