Q. When did the Bieber comeback campaign start in earnest?

A.As I started to see it going in the wrong direction, I started to prepare. I put deals in place where he was protected for the long run. And I started to prepare my company to scale, because I was not going to let him work. [After “Journals,” Mr. Bieber’s 2013 digital compilation,] he wanted to tour, and I honestly at that time felt, if he toured, he could die.

I know people have seen the marketing and the A&R and everything we put together, and they’re like, “Wow, great job!” But I want to be really clear: I was trying to do that job for a year and a half, and I failed every single day. It wasn’t until something happened that it clicked for him. He made the conscious decision as a young man: “I need to make a change in my own life.”

I decided I needed six months of that. I looked at Robert Downey Jr. and all these people — when you ask for redemption, people will give it to you. But if you’re the boy who cried wolf, they’ll destroy you. Once I saw there was consistency I said, O.K., now it’s time to go back in the professional life. The click happened about 20 months ago. Six months after that, you start seeing me planning a [Comedy Central] roast. And then the Calvin Klein ads come, and the roast comes …

How did the roast come about?

I had a meeting in the office, and I said: “O.K., guys, these are some of my ideas. What person do you think Justin should do the intense sit-down interview with? Is it Katie Couric? Do we call Oprah and see if we can do a special?” And Ava [Coleman] — 21 years old, at the time an intern — she said: “I just think my generation doesn’t care about that. I think if you want people to see that he’s for real, he should do a Comedy Central roast.” And I went: “That is genius. Get it done.” Twenty-four hours later, I was on the phone with Comedy Central.