AD AGE’s Natalie Zmuda noted Pepsi Max’ "Uncle Drew" spot featuring Cavaliers G Kyrie Irving began airing during NBA Finals Game One on Tuesday night on ABC. The spot is also slated to air during Games Two and Three, "as well as on the WatchESPN live-streaming app.” Pepsi Max is “planning a homepage takeover on ESPN.com this Saturday.” Davie Brown Entertainment worked on the video, in which Irving is “disguised as a sweatshirt-wearing, pot-belly-sporting elderly man" (ADAGE.com, 6/13).
SHOWING SOME SKIN: USA TODAY’s Bruce Horovitz wrote “jocks in their skivvies,” an advertising tradition that “first raised eyebrows three decades ago when Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer bared some flesh in his Jockey briefs, is evolving into something closer to a bona fide free-for-all.” The targets of these ads “isn’t just guys, it’s gals, too.” Jockey found that women make “more than 40% of male underwear purchases.” N.Y. ad consultant Allison Cohen said, “The woman is the gatekeeper when it comes to all things underwear” (USA TODAY, 6/14).
HOMETOWN HEROES: In Cincinnati, Kevin Kelly reported NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and Kentucky native Michael Waltrip will be “bringing a University of Kentucky-themed car to Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400.” The special paint scheme “will commemorate UK’s eighth basketball title” (CINCINNATI.com, 6/12).
AND THE WINNER IS... CBSSPORTS.com’s Pete Pistone noted the winning paint scheme voted by fans for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s "The Dark Knight Rises" movie partnership “has been unveiled.” Earnhardt's No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet “will carry the winning design" in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan Int'l Speedway (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/12).
