Omar Johnson (businessman)

Omar Johnson is an American marketing executive who has worked with Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Nike, and Coca-Cola.[1] He is also the former CMO at Beats by Dre and former VP Marketing at Apple. His proprietary methodology, Culture-Centric Design™, sits at the intersection of data, cultural insights and big ideas, and is fueled by a team with diverse backgrounds, languages, and points of view. Culture-Centric Design™ powers his newest venture, ØPUS United, a modern brand management company consisting of a multi-disciplined collective of award winning executives, athletes, strategists, creatives, and musicians who understand the anatomy of world-class brands.

At Beats Electronics, Johnson was responsible for brand development, brand positioning, advertising, retail experience, entertainment and sports marketing, as well as digital marketing for all global efforts. In 2013, Adweek [2] named Johnson a “Brand Genius”, and in 2016 Business Insider named him one of the “Most Innovative CMOs” for his social media branding campaigns such as the “Straight Outta Somewhere” campaign.[3] The campaign went viral[4] reaching 1.2 billion people worldwide, with 9 million memes created and shared, 27 million video views, and 13 million microsite visitors.[5] He also drove explosive growth in the headphone category through other groundbreaking campaigns including #ShowYourColor Solo Campaign, Powerbeats starring LeBron James and The Pills featuring Chris Rock and Eminem. His use of viral marketing and influencers helped expand Beats into venues such as the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Cup and NBA Finals. Under Johnson’s tenure, Beats grew from $20 million to a $1.6 billion dollar (revenue) category leader, becoming the #1 premium headphone in 21 countries including North America, UK, France, Germany, South Korea which led to the subsequent purchase by Apple for $3 billion in 2014.[6]

Previously, as an advertising lead at Nike, Johnson produced some of Nike’s most memorable TV commercials including “Rise,” starring LeBron James, “All Together Now,” featuring Kobe Bryant, and “The Most Valuable Puppets”.

Johnson also built the Nike+ sports music platform, establishing Nike’s first revenue-generating relationship with record labels. Johnson and his team created an industry-first sports music program with Universal, Interscope, Sony, Capitol, Def Jam and more than 25 independent labels. This collaboration sold +5 Million tracks and deepened the connection between music and sports.

Johnson is from Brooklyn, NY. He received a BS in Biology and Chemistry from Georgia State University and an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He's an investor, as well as keynote speaker and marketing coach.[7]