Omar Johnson

Omar Johnson served as CMO of Beats by Dre, VP Marketing at Apple, and account lead at Nike. Today he is the founder of Opus United, which most recently launched the content series "We The People" to fight for social change. Famously as CMO of Beats, Omar helped grow a $20 million company into a $1.6 billion dollar category leader, becoming the #1 premium headphone in 21 countries. In 2013, Adweek named Omar a “Brand Genius.” In 2016, Business Insider named him one of the “Most Innovative CMOs” for social media branding efforts including the “Straight Outta Somewhere” campaign, which reached over a billion people worldwide. He also led groundbreaking campaigns including #ShowYourColor, Powerbeats starring LeBron James, and The Pills featuring Chris Rock and Eminem. His use of viral marketing and influencers helped expand Beats into venues like the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Cup and NBA Finals. Omar’s success as CMO culminated in 2014, when Beats was purchased by Apple for $3 billion. Prior to Beats, Omar was at Nike, where he produced memorable TV commercials like “Rise,” starring LeBron James, and “The Most Valuable Puppets”. He also built the Nike+ sports music platform, establishing Nike’s first revenue-generating relationship with record labels. Today in addition to running Opus United, he is an investor, keynote speaker and marketing coach. In June of 2020, with the nation facing a reckoning on race, Omar personally took out a full page ad in The New York Times titled “My Open Letter to White Corporate America.”