The Marketing Arm Revives ‘Uncle Drew’ for Pepsi Max

By Erik Oster 

We wrote about the launch of The Marketing Arm’s fun “Uncle Drew” spot for Pepsi Max last year. Uncle Max is Kyrie Irving transformed into an old baller who teaches “young bloods” a thing or two about fundamentals. The Marketing Arm has revived Irving’s character for “Uncle Max: Chapter 3”  (which Irving also wrote and directed), featuring Nate Robinson as “Lights” and WNBA star Maya Moore as”Betty Lou.”

The spot, directed by O Positive’s Jonathan Klein, shows Uncle Drew attempting to get the old team together, starting with “Lights.” Drew visits “Lights” at an old jazz club, and convinces him to join him for a game, against the best advice of Betty Lou. If you want to skip past the setup and get to the action (it’s a long spot and we know a lot of you have short attention spans), fast forward to around the 2:25 mark.

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While it’s hard to believe anyone but the most gullible of people would fall for Kyrie Irving and Nate Robinson in makeup, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun watching the two made up as old men school a bunch of ballers. Uncle Drew and “Lights” are killing it when they’re interrupted by the arrival of Betty Lou, who shows up to drag “Lights” from the court, concerned about his bad hip. But when someone in the crowd calls her an “old lady” she changes gears and joins in on the action. Watching the three taunt and destroy their opponents is a whole lot of fun, especially when “Lights” dribbles off an opponent’s head or Betty Lou and “Lights” bow to each other following an alley-oop. At the end of the spot “Lights” asks Uncle Drew who he’s going to pick up next. “We’re going to get the big man,” he says, “We need him.” Looks like we can expect more Uncle Drew spots from The Marketing Arm in the future. No complaints here. Check out the second chapter of the Uncle Drew saga after the break.

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