Omar Johnson

Omar Johnson is a marketing innovator in the art of building world-class brands. As former CMO of Beats by Dre and VP of Marketing at Apple, throughout his career, Johnson has led all facets of marketing, ranging from brand development and positioning to advertising and global digital marketing. Omar is an industry-leading authority and has even been coined ‘Brand Genius’ by Adweek. Heavily involved with consumers, he has built an extensive knowledge of customer wants and needs, along with market trends and brand development. As a speaker, Omar is sought to cover the tales of his time at the helm of two of the largest technology companies of modern-day along with the lessons he learnt along the way. Under Johnson’s tenure, Beats grew from $20 million to a $2.0 billion dollar category leader, becoming the #1 premium headphone in over 25 countries, which led to the subsequent purchase by Apple for $3 billion. Adweek named Johnson a “Brand Genius,” and Business Insider named him one of the “Most Innovative CMOs.” Additionally, Johnson has worked on hundreds of winning marketing campaigns while at international brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, and Campbell Soup. 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”. Since Apple, Johnson has founded ØPUS United, a modern brand management company comprised of a multi-disciplined collective of award-winning executives, athletes, strategists, creatives, and musicians, who understand the anatomy of world-class brands. Through his work with ØPUS United, Johnson has also been actively involved in developing initiatives, such as We The People and We Got Next, and authored Dear White Corporate America to encourage conversations around racial equity and the empowerment of younger generations to take action through polling, voting, and representation within the government. Most recently, Johnson became a board member of two companies, Qualtrics and Theragun. Teemat: Diversity in Business: Meeting People “Where They Are” | Leadership: Meeting People “Where They Are” | Marketing Brands with Authenticity and Emotion | The Beats Story: Building an International Brand | The Best Idea Wins: How to work with the crowd, ignore the data, and use the art of listening to develop your best ideas | The New Rules of Marketing: From Influencers to Ambush Marketing