On May 18th, Pepsi MAX posted
a video on YouTube titled, "Uncle Drew." Being that sports are
a major cornerstone of their branding, they set out to have a little fun.
The five-minute video from
Davie Brown Entertainment features NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving
disguised as a sweatshirt-wearing, pot-belly-sporting elderly man named
"Uncle Drew" (a guy who basically reminded me of Grady from Sanford
and Sons) who's attending an outdoors basketball game where his nephew is
playing. When one of the players goes down with an injury, Uncle Drew
takes the court and stuns everyone with a flurry of crossover dribbles, dunks,
and three-point baskets, taunting his opponents all the while. You may
have seen a shorter version of this video during the NBA Finals. After
getting such a strong response over the first few weeks of its viral release,
Pepsi MAX felt they had no choice but to find the media budget to do so.
In the first two weeks, it
grabbed almost 7 million views on YouTube and is at almost 13 million as of
today. If you have yet to see "Uncle Drew" - check it out here.
Pepsi also is quite strong in
their music play. Nicki Minaj was recently brought into the fold with
Pepsi - signing a seven-figure endorsement deal with Pepsi expected to include
an international commercial and a gig as the face of a new natural soda called
"Pop" in fourth quarter. They also recently announced a
partnership with Twitter that includes a series of pop-up concerts that Pepsi
will announce to its followers no more than two weeks before they are
scheduled. The concerts will be live-streamed on Twitter and users will be able
to post the songs they want to hear the artist play. Katy Perry kicked it
off a few weeks back performing on Jimmy Kimmel in advance of her Part of Me
movie release. There will be another concert at the end of July and then
again at the end of August - with yet-to-be-determined artists.
So why not have Pepsi / Pepsi
MAX take the Uncle Drew concept and pair it with music? Maybe film a
"documentary" on the writing and recording process for a new
band? An argument between the lead guitarist and the lead singer ensure
and the guitarist quits. Who better to step in, strap on a guitar to help
finish the track but the drummer’s accountant / engineering looking dad -
Hunter Hayes.
Or…
When the lead dancer /
choreographer for a state champion dance team is injured during practice, who
is there to save the day, but a custodian - think Breakfast Club - who is
really Justin Bieber or Nicki Minaj's choreographer - Laurieann Gibson.
Or…
Prior to an orchestra’s grand
performance, the featured soloist walks off the stage. The conductor motions to a young usher in the
house and invites them up on stage to take their place. This could be a pianist, violinist or
vocalist who is a child prodigy, a teen or maybe even Uncle Drew himself - with
Kyrie Irving yielding his part to a "rookie of the year" in the music
world. Who in the house would ever think
this usher could take the place of the featured performer?
There are quite a few
logistics and adjustments that would need to be made in any of these
suggestions to pull them off - but taking this idea and branching it into music
- in all formats - could result in some tremendous results. Pepsi fans across the country - or even the
world - could begin sharing “What Happens When…" video segments featuring
music.
Being a music lover and a
Pepsi drinker all my life, I wanted to take the tremendous idea and execution
of Uncle Drew and match it with my passions.
Until then - as Pepsi says -
"Live for Now."
