Omar Johnson

Omar Johnson is a top marketing and branding keynote speaker, entrepreneur, former CMO at Beats by Dre, and former VP Marketing at Apple. Adweek named Johnson a "Brand Genius," and Business Insider named him one of the "Most Innovative CMO's."

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”.

Marketing is about ideas and authenticity. When Omar Johnson took over the marketing for Beats by Dre, he created a flat organization style where the best idea could win. He encouraged everyone to contribute ideas from the newest member of the team to the oldest. Instead of heavy data analysis, his team would talk to actual users of Beats in the streets in order to find why and how people were using their headphones. The result was a billion dollar company and category leader. In this talk, Omar shares techniques from his experience on how to develop the best ideas.


Keynote Speaker Programs

• 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 idea
• The new rules of marketing: from influencers to ambush marketing