Take that, status quo!

Hugh Macleod is a renaissance man. Brilliant illustrator, agent provacateur and marketing wizard. Please, please tell me you have his site bookmarked and that you are following him on Twitter. Become a Crazy Deranged Fool while you are at it.

Hugh’s latest concept is Cube Grenades. What’s that? Here’s Hugh…

1. Like I said, my cartoons work best when they’re used as “Cube Grenades” i.e. small objects that you “throw” in there in order to cause some damage- to start a conversation, to spread an idea etc. But other social objects can be used as well- purple milk cartons, homemade cookies, funky mousepads, rubber toys, newspaper clippings etc. It’s the people that matter, not the object they socialize around. I don’t claim to have a monopoly.

2. Repeat After Me: Cube Grenades are Social Objects. Cube Grenades are Social Objects. Cube Grenades are Social Objects…

3. All big change in companies come from the people in the trenches, who do the actual day-to-day work. To change their behavior, you have to change the way they interact. People interact around social objects. Change the social objects, and you change the company.

He continues the list and thought here. Well worth the read.  PSFK has further thoughts on the concept:

Cartoonist and marketing theorist Hugh MacLeod has been developing his concept of “social objects,” now reifined in the form of his “cube grenade” series of illustrations, which he believes are representative of the future of both brands and marketing as a whole. Though it may sound opaque at first, the concept of social objects can be summed up by MacLeod’s thesis that people socialize around objects in meaningful ways, and these peripheral interactions are far more important than the objects themselves.

Making and throwing your own Cube Grenades is a big idea. Maybe too big for you right now. But that doesn’t mean you should sit on the sidelines. Start by printing out on of Hugh’s pictures and put it up on your wall/cubicle/desktop. Start a conversation. Do it today.