Venables' Hipster Mission: 'Keep It Cool' for Napster

Napster, the former file-swapping service, will get a major relaunch at the hands of Venables, Bell & Partners. The San Francisco shop, hired last week, will have the opportunity to build on huge brand awareness, but its challenge is a formidable one: to transform ex-users into paying customers.

“Napster has incredible name recognition,” said Lee Black, an analyst with Jupiter Research in Darien, Conn. “Everybody knows what it was. It was the classic David and Goliath anti-establishment case.”

Venables must re-create what Napster stood for as a free service—an unbridled online revolution with tons of accessible music and a community feeling, Black said.

The client expects to spend an estimated $20 million behind the relaunch, a representative said.