Less than two weeks after PepsiCo exec Brad Jakeman ripped the industry's use of pre-roll advertising, a soda brand within his company is launching a new campaign that uses, you guessed it, pre-roll.

But the campaign for Mtn Dew -- which kicks off the brand's new NBA sponsorship -- attempts to use pre-roll in a way that gets around Mr. Jakeman's top complaint: That the oft-used tactic is "a model of polluting content that is not sustainable," as he put it in a fiery speech at an Association of National Advertisers event on Oct. 15.

The campaign plugs Mtn Dew Kickstart and features NBA star Russell Westbrook. Rather than using branded pre-roll, the brand is deploying a two-minute pre-roll spot that is devoid of Dew imagery. The ad shows Mr. Westbrook dressed in a bright green suit and doing a "powerstance," a new move coined by Mtn Dew. Mr. Westbrook moves through random scenes, like a beach, a swamp and a moon landing.

Like regular YouTube TrueView pre-roll spots, viewers can skip the ad after five seconds. But Dew brand leaders are hoping that the pre-roll spot is quirky and mysterious enough that people watch it till the end. At that point they can click to view a more traditional spot, as Mr. Westbrook dares viewers to "go ahead, watch my ad." The campaign is by BBDO, New York.

Mr. Jakeman, who is PepsiCo's global beverage group president, said in his ANA talk that pre-roll was "my particular peeve. I hate it."