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Deuce Brand’s Marketing Director & Photographer Jun Lu Discuss His Journey With The Wrist Band Company

Courtesy of Jun Lu

Jun Lu is the Marketing Director and Photographer for the popular wrist band company the ‘Deuce Brand.’ A role that he has been in for almost a decade now. He can also be found at basketball games around the association throughout the NBA season and playoffs.

Lu recently spoke with LandonBuford.com about his journey to the Deuces Brand and where he see what direction the company is headed in the near future. The who interview with Jun Lu can be found below.

  1. Can you share with us what your official title with Deuce Brand is?

I have a couple of titles with the Deuce brand. I handled the photography side and then also the marketing side of things, and then I also helped with designing some of the merch. So, I have a couple of titles, but I will say I am the CEO Gary Hughes’ right-hand guy.

2. Deuce Brand has adopted the Underdog Mentality. Why did you feel that it aligned with your personal and professional values?

I was with my Instagram page from the beginning of a funny story. I have always loved the game of basketball, I have always loved sneakers and fashion. I think all that tied in, and so with my page, I was taking photos it just sneakers on my feet, just basketball stuff, and I honestly did not know where I was headed with this. I was like; I am just going to do this. It is a personal fun hobby passion I will enjoy doing. I was able to make some connections with some hoopers here, some professional hoopers here in Dallas, and hopefully with some friends, and they were able to introduce me to them. Have you heard of the Power Hands company?

 So, they make heavyweight hands to work on handles and everything. And they make a couple of other products. But that is their main niche, like the gloves you put on; they are slippery inside and have weights on the outside. So, you can work on improving your handling. So, I met the owner, the CEO of that, and they hired me to take some shots. So, I took some product shots for them. Basketball shots, they use my photos on their page. And that’s how Deuce stumbled upon their page. And they saw who was taking their photos. So, they reached out to me and sent me a DM and was like, hey, we love your work, we would like to, you know, send you out like a little package. And ever since then, we have just built a connection and started working together. And then this has been about seven, seven, and eight years in the works of things with Deus. And just before I knew I was just started working for companies, you know, do span originally made only wristbands. Right. So that was like their main niches that make many bands with mantras and motivational quotes. We personalize bands for specific companies, players, team sports, and whatnot. And so that all tied in with Kyrie as well.

3. The company’s slogan is ‘Under Dog’ How does that align with you personally and professionally?

It is for the CEO. He always chose Deus because his backstory is that in college, he played for the University of Kentucky, and his number was two as well. And what that meant for him, and how it all started was, and it is like this for everybody after hearing this story, you know, it was motivating. But, still, he was telling me that, you know, he always chose number two, or the underdog, meaning like, you know, be number two, always striving to be number one, like underdog mentality, right? So, hearing that, I took that into that as well. So, everybody goes through many things in life.
There is some underdog moment, you know, that everyone has, and for me, it is just, it just always just for me, underdogs just trying to be creative. There’s always room for improvement, no matter what you are doing, no matter what you are doing, like me being creative. Sometimes I am hard on myself, I am like, you know, you know, I shoot this, and I am like, I feel like there is a better way to do it. So, always trying to, you know, strive to create something new and be unique at the same time, and then create something, you know, special. And memories for others, as much as possible, like that, for me that, that is what I enjoy doing the most to as if I can create a memory for somebody as well, that’s, that’s like such a good feeling, you know, for me to like, go to their homes and see, like, a photo of them, you know, you know, printed on a wall or whatever. That is, you know, something that I was able to create for them.

Courtesy of Jun Lu

4. Deuce Brand recently partnered with Kai Bands, designed and worn by Dallas Mavericks All-Star Kyrie Irving. Can you share how this collaboration came about?

So, Kyrie saw the brand when he was in college. So, he and his dad reached out to the CEO of Deus, and they flew out to San Diego before he entered the NBA Draft. Okay, he met up with him. He was like, hey, I love your stuff. And honestly, since then, he has been rocking the bands for the longest time. And so, we have made custom bands for him. And you can go back and see his rookie year like he has the bands on; I had started with a timepiece. So, was spring used to make the rubber bands with a tiny little watch, a little plastic rocker? Yes, so that is where it started. And then Kyrie was the one that gave us the idea to remove the timepiece. He was like, hey, we would like to watch. I want to watch it. No, but he thought you could make me a dope rubber band or something. And we did. We created something. So ever since then. He has been rocking with us. Since then, you know if, you know, the stature and the level; they said we would try to reach out to him now that there is no way. But we have built a relationship with him since the beginning.

5. What about Kyrie Irving screams the word Underdog Mentality to you?

It is much of what he has done with [thus far]. See, you see, a lot of, I mean, to me, a lot of it is like finding, finding, finding his piece, I think, is huge in everything that, you know, you got people that want to see him that his downfall. So, that is one thing, just being at peace of mind for me because I have not asked him his underdog question, but I would assume, seeing, that he wants the best for everybody. In this world, it is how I view it, but I mean, he does not rock with them, like, he does not, we do not have any underdog brand for him, but I mean, he has his stuff. We have his band, like he reps that I am human. So I mean, that, you know, goes along, you know, even though he’s an NBA superstar, he’s human at the end of the day, you know, he wants to be treated humanely, you know, any, like any average person, so, and I get that, I get that too. So, that is different from what you are saying. And that is how I view it as an underdog story as well.

6. I am aware that you and Kyrie have a love and affection for the late great Kobe Bryant. Has that helped bridge the gap regarding a relationship beyond just business?

He has gotten more of a relationship with Gary, the CEO of this brand. So that’s when, you know, initially when he flew out, he met his dad, you know, I mean, at you know, young Kyrie back in the day was, you know, just having fun partying and so like he’s also, you know, invited Gary to be part of like the family and just hanging out with him. So, they built the relationship and got one that got more relationships than me; I have seen Kai for me personally a handful of times. So, he knows who I am, but we have not really got to like hanging out outside of what I would have been doing, but I know he is a busy guy. So, I have an active family guy right now.

Courtesy of Jun Lu

7. You recently collaborated with Hall of Fame Finalist Dwyane Wade and his shoe brand, Way of Wade. Can you share with us how that collaboration presented itself?

So that one is not; it has nothing to do with newsprint. That one is just for me; I have a friend who does sneaker performance reviews, his name is, or he used to be the soul brothers, but he is now the sole job. And he is the one to put me up with the Li-Ning company [Way of Wade]; he was a hey, reach out to the marketing group here. So, I reached out to them. And they, personally, again, seem and they love my work. And so, they send me shoes and products, and we work together. And so, and I just happened that, where do sprint with because they do not send me any like tights or shorts or socks, I see what you are saying you will see me, of course, I am always going to be reppin do so. So that is how the learning goes about doing wave stuff like that. So, they send me stuff to help market their stuff. And get the name out there. They are blowing up leaning, you know, Dwayne Wade has been with the company. He is on his 10th signature shoe. But they are blown up their performance these past two years or so. The technology on their shoes is amazing. Like, it is a great, great hoop shoe. I am not even trying to say that because they sent it to me, they have made some nice stuff. So, it is different, you know, DeAngelo Russell is one guy that wears it. So, he is one guy in the league who is rockin it. So, I know he approves of it.

7. Who would like to collaborate in the future and why?

We open the door for anyone who wants to wrap it, you know, we are, we are, we are, we are open, you know, if you want to come to rock with us, you know, support us, we will support you. So, it is what we do every year; what we typically do is we usually go to the NBA drafts, and we try to connect with any player, no matter what. If you want to rock with Deuces, we will care for you. So, as far as like collab goes, you got your big names out there that we would love to work with. A guy like Steph Curry would be awesome, but right now, he’s rockin with Active Faith. And again, the way we roll is that we never try to pressure anyone. If you would like to brand new love the brand-new rock with this cool, we want it to be organic. You know, this is how we always do. That’s how it always is. But we are open arms. If you want to come and need anything from us, we [make] custom bands and will take care of you. But as far as other companies go, not right now. I cannot think of any. We are just trying to stay in our lane and blow it up.

What do you think?

Written by Landon Buford

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