You Sleep When You Die

What if you took that same concept and pushed it a little further next year… by promoting Black Weekend instead of Black Friday? Judging from what we just saw, the consumer is going to be receptive to the idea of a longer, more intense push at the beginning of the shopping season. So why not open up the doors at midnight Thursday, let the crowds in, and host an in-store party all weekend long?

The announcement that he was stepping down from the helm at Apple was not exactly unexpected, but it was still bad news for all of us who love and respect entrepreneurial visionaries who refuse to pretend that normal is good enough. One look at Jobs in his bow-tie back in the eighties was enough to convince anyone that this guy had very little to do with normal. Insane was more like it. Like Edison, like Ford, like Einstein, he was and is, thank God, just a little insane.

My point here is not necessarily that you ought to order a Papa John’s pizza tonight (even though that’s a great idea.) My point is that some companies are thriving, even in the midst of a double-dip recession. And some companies definitely aren’t. Papa John’s is one of those companies that is.

National retailers need to wake up and actually serve their customers. Acting like a small business can make you a big winner.

Thanks to Jumeirah and Oakley’s willingness to take a chance on a rising star, these two firms are now enjoying a global windfall of exposure for their brands.

The lesson: Taking smart risks on emerging opportunities can pay off big.