[The latest Cube Grenade we did for The Financer, the London-based blog and social club. Backstory here…]

This was fun: Last week we all attended TEDx Miami. It was held at the shiny new Frank Ghery designed, New World Symphony building, just behind Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.  The TED folks were kind enough to invite us along to display the Dewar’s drawings I did at TED Global in Edinburgh, back in July. These were original drawings that I did in marker. The images were presented in clean white frames to fit the venue.

I was a little anxious going into the event because I couldn’t be certain whether what resonated with a largely non-American crowd in Edinburgh, would also work in Miami. Miami is, well, at totally different place. The good news is that the work was well received, and our sponsors, Dewars, were happy. We are told that the work is now going to be installed in the new Bacardi HQ in Coral Gables.

After the talks, people were offered cocktails made of Dewars, Grey Goose or wine. As I looked around, I was surprised to see how many women were drinking scotch. That, and a conversation with our friend, Maria at the event reminded me of her comments when we posted about the scotch market a few weeks back. The surprising news from that post and subsequent exchange was that chicks love scotch. Note to Dewars: Instead of trying to get the guys to switch from another brand, it might be easier to grow your market by appealing to women. Just a thought. Rock on!

Another Rackspace-sponsored cartoon…

I like this cartoon. It’s something that Scoble would would say.

Scoble works for Rackspace, too. Do the math.

[Commission your own cartoon here…]

[Download the printable version here…]

Hola. Yes, another Rackspace-sponsored cartoon…

Like I said on Twitter earlier today, yes, you can work for a large company and not be a #slavebot. But you have to decide, before somebody decides for you.

Rackspace doesn’t want #slavebots working for them. Hell, Rackspace doesn’t even want #slavebots working for their customers, ideally.

#Slavebots are bad. Don’t be one. Best avoid them like the plague, both at work and at play. Exactly.

[Commission your own cartoon here…]

Another Rackspace-sponsored cartoon, this time for 37signals, the amazing software company.

The idea comes from a core value taken right off the latter’s homepage. They use a lot of blue and green in their graphic design, so I went with something blue-greeny.

The little “Love from Rackspace” symbol is right there in the bottom left-hand corner. A little secret hallmark, as it were…

Love it. Rock on.

[Commission your own cartoon etc…]

There ya go. On behalf of my client, Rackspace, a free “Cube Grenade” for y’all to download and print out and hang on your wall etc.

A Social Object. Exactly.

It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense. Less theory, more action. Less talk, more doing. That’s what it means to have a startup. Part of the Rackspace “We Love Startups” riff. Exactly.

[More Rackspace cartoons here…]

Jeff Sandquist, Robert Scoble’s old boss at Microsoft’s Channel Nine, commissioned me to design this business card for him.

He wanted a design that worked for both techies and non-techies alike. Something that made him appear both good at his job, but still a human being etc.

Fun! Thanks, Jeff!

[Commission your own Cube Grenade here…]

I just drew this wee cartoon for one of my favorite brands, Laughing Squid.

Laughing Squid aka my good friend, Scott Beale, GETS it. Really, really gets it. Very few brands seem to be able to truly understand both the Art and the Internet so well. The only other guys I know who come close are Boing Boing.

I think it’s so cool that when Scott talks to people at parties, he’ll often talk to somebody who LOVES Laughing Squid, KNOWS Laughing Squid well, but still has no idea that web hosting is what Laughing Squid actually does for a living.

To be so great, you don’t evern need to tell people about it in order for it to work.

That is rare. That is a gift. That is THE gift. To be able to do that. That is what inspired the cartoon. Yes, exactly.

But that’s not the only reason I’m writing this. Full Disclosure: My client, Rackspace, recently commissioned me to draw a “Cube Grenade” cartoon for one of their favorite customers. A “social gesture” from them to say thanks, as it were. They gave me a shortlist, Scott’s name was on top. I was delighted to find him there.

Secondly, Laughing Squid is also one of Rackspace’s oldest customers. We’re talking REALLY early days. That isn’t common knowledge, I only just found out. But I was delighted to learn that; I really was.

So thanks to Scott, Laughing Squid, Rackspace and everybody else who “gets it”, who truly knows and truly feels the love.

Yes, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Godbless.

[Check out the other Rackspace cartoons here etc. Check out the Cube Grenade homepage here etc etc.]

[The Cube Grenade I did for Shit Creek Consulting etc.]

Traditional advertising doesn’t work very well.

Sure, it tries, and tries hard, but most of the time, it fails.

It fails far worse now than it ever did during the golden era of TV or print. Those days are gone. We live in The Internet Era now.

Old, traditional advertising was all about creating messages for the media, not about creating social objects for the people using the media.

“Social Objects” is what makes the Internet work, what makes the Internet possible.

Without the social objects, there would simply be no World Wide Web.

Social objects are part of the Web’s very  DNA.

In The Internet Era, an ad that isn’t first and foremost a social object, is useless waste of money. Even if we’re not talking about the Internet, per se.

Which is why I invented Cube Grenades: social objects in cartoon form, designed to star real conversations between people.

To me, Cube Grenades aren’t just about cartoons. Cube Grenades are  about something far more important– they’re about doing something that creates real change between people, that creates something that actually matters to people.

Social Objects: I use cartoons. What do you use? Serious question.

Another new cartoon for the Rackspace series.…

Basically, I took the old “George” idea and re-jigged it, adding the trademark Rackspace red & black.

And hey, it worked.

I see this cartoon going in the slide deck of Rackspace’s recruiters.

We’re not a ‘normal’ company  etc. It’s OK not to be ‘normal’ etc. ‘Normal’ is boring etc.

It’s easy for a small company to have a distinct personality. Much harder when the company has grown a lot, like Rackspace has done in the last few years.

Much harder to NOT be normal…

[Commission your own cartoon from gapingvoid etc.]

A “cube grenade” commission I just completed for Thoughtworks, the global IT consulting company.

Thoughtworks has this term, “Watermelon”, to describe a project that goes terribly wrong, that looks all well and good on the outside (green), but as the project comes to an end, turns out to be a huge ol’ expensive mess on the inside (red). I just took the idea and ran with it.

We’re going to turn this design into a 100 large framed prints, as Christmas presents for their clients. A fun little “conversation starter” to hang on their walls… which of course, is what the the whole cube grenade idea is all about. “Art With Purpose” etc.

Fun!

[Commission your own cube grenade here etc.]

[One of the cube grenades I did for Rackspace etc.]

Here’s something to think about this Thanksgiving:

A year and a half ago I coined the term, “Cube Grenade”, and since then, we’ve tried to build a business around it.

Art that you hang in your cubicle, in order to affect change, in order to start a conversation. Art that you “toss” into the work/corporate environment, that hopefully causes a small “explosion”. Hence the term, Cube Grenade.

“Art with purpose. Work with purpose”.

Exactly.

Thanks to the Internet, the nature of work is changing in so many amazing ways, and we’re all so damn lucky to be caught right in the middle of it.

As a cartoonist, my work is totally inspired and informed by this– this is exactly why the work took the direction it did.

And your work, whatever it may be, should also be affected in the same way. I can’t think of a better time to be alive; I really can’t.

So besides friends and family, what better reason is there to celebrate Thanksgiving? Seriously…