Campaign Trail is our analysis of some of the best new creative efforts from the marketing world. View past columns in the archives here.
Earlier this month, LeBron James took to social media to tease an upcoming interview that he promised would reveal “the decision of all decisions.” With a nod to the iconic — and infamous — 2010 TV special in which the NBA legend announced his intention to “take [his] talents to South Beach” and sign with the Miami Heat, the internet went into spin mode. Would James finally be announcing the end of his illustrious career?
Not so fast, ball-knowers. On Oct. 7, James revealed that this fall, he’d be taking his talents… to Hennessy V.S.O.P., continuing a partnership with the cognac house that kicked off last year with a social-first experience that tapped into LeBron lore. This time around, Hennessy and agency Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam had one shot at telling the story of the brand’s next steps with James.
“We used what we knew about the timing of this, knowing it was in the offseason, a time when a lot of people are going to be talking about trade rumors, about retirement, about a whole range of things, and we focused that as our foundation,” said Amar Babbar, communications planning director at the agency. “If we’re talking about LeBron, there’s one very important and very significant story ... which is the decision in 2010.”
The Decision has been made. Cheers to year 23.@KingJames #HennessyxLeBron #TheSecondDecision #HennessyVSOP pic.twitter.com/WnXMZTiEPS
— Hennessy (@Hennessy) October 7, 2025
The result is a 60-second social video that recreates the look and feel of the original “Decision,” with a “SportsCenter”-like presentation. James wears a shirt with a similar pattern to the one he donned all those years ago and spouts the same “man, this is tough” asides. Explaining his decision, James says — over a montage of shots including a record player, card tricks and chess moves — Hennessey will help him win at hosting, crafting cocktails, having a good time and impressing guests.
“A lot of thought and craft went into looking at the original and drawing the right parallels and keeping it authentic, but also infusing brand cues in a tasteful way,” said Zeynep Orbay, a creative director at Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam. “There was a fine line, but… how subtle or how expressive it is, is in a good balance.”
Can’t make an omelette…
James’ partnership with Hennessy comes at a time when alcohol brands have more than 300 celebrity endorsements (according to Wieden + Kennedy’s count), spanning everything from Hollywood superstar owner-operators to hold-a-bottle photo shoots. With that in mind, the agency works to cut through the noise by breaking into wider conversations around sports.
For last year’s launch, that meant nodding to cultural knowledge around James that serves as “gold dust” on social, Babbar said. The effort featured trivia tidbits, like that James only reads the first page of a book or the fact that he can’t spin a ball on his finger, which came out during the last Olympics.
“Hennessy really wanted to make sure that this time around, the world knew that the relationship was continuing, that it was a deepening relationship, and wanting to have an impact that matched last year or beat it,” Babbar said. “How do we make sure that we have the internet, the brand fans and sports fans talking about it, [so] ultimately we draw more people into the brand?”
Wieden + Kennedy has worked with Hennessy for the last couple of years to make the 260-year-old brand feel more young, fresh and relevant through a revamped tone and communication style. That has led the brand toward a social-first strategy and away from traditional advertising.
In the case of “The Second Decision,” the agency tried to recreate the feeling of appointment-viewing associated traditional linear TV but on social media, hoping that the teasers on Instagram and the platform formerly known as Twitter would pique the interest of LeBron’s fans — and haters.
“We were treating it like a cultural moment, like the original ‘Decision,’ so having a very clear one-two punch [and] making sure that all those people that spoke about the teaser had something to react to almost immediately [was key],” Babbar said.
…without breaking some eggs
“The Second Decision” was crafted with social media virality in mind. In that way, the effort succeeded — even if some of the feedback around LeBron was negative (A Washington Post op-ed maintained, “LeBron James is selling his credibility, one Decision at a time.”). But both agency and brand knew “you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs,” Babbar said.
“Whether we’re talking about LeBron James or about Hennessy, great things are often an acquired taste, and it’s okay to be divisive. It’s okay to stir up opinion. It's okay to stir up both really positive sentiment and maybe some people who aren’t so happy. But it’s about being there for who your audience actually is,” Babbar said.
“The Second Decision” certainly stirred up opinion and engagement. Video content, especially storytelling led by LeBron, has sustained exceptional reach and interaction in the week since the teaser dropped, with Hennessy Reels seeing a more than three-fold increase to 24.57% engagement, per Metricool analysis shared with Marketing Dive. In addition, the push across both James’ and Hennessy’s social posts generated nearly $18 million in total estimated media value, with an average engagement rate over 12% (far surpassing industry benchmarks of less than half a percent), per Sprout Social data shared with Marketing Dive.
“Hennessy didn’t just hire a celebrity spokesperson with their latest ‘The Second Decision’ campaign featuring LeBron James,” said Sprout Social’s Director of Communications Kaitlyn Gronek in emailed comments. “They cleverly recontextualized a nostalgic, viral moment to create a new, instantly shareable conversation that is clearly resonating with audiences and extending the campaign’s reach with engaging social content.”
