Bad Ad Product Game
Groups create a product and ad campaign for something that does everything wrong. By revolving an object to view its weird sides, players discover creativity through inversion.
Structure
Setup
Participants work in groups of 3-5. Each group receives or selects an everyday object. The task is to create a product and advertising campaign that does everything wrong: the product should be useless, the campaign should be counterproductive, the pitch should undermine the sale.
Phase 1: Inversion Design (10 minutes)
Groups develop their "bad" product by systematically inverting conventional product design:
- What problem does it create instead of solve?
- Who should absolutely not buy this?
- What is the worst possible use case?
- What features make it worse than nothing?
Phase 2: Ad Campaign Creation (10 minutes)
Groups develop a campaign that is maximally counterproductive:
- What is the campaign's core message? (Should be actively discouraging.)
- Who is the target audience? (Should be wrong for the product.)
- What is the slogan? (Should destroy any desire to purchase.)
- What is the call to action? (Should make buying harder.)
Phase 3: Pitch Presentations (3-5 minutes per group)
Each group pitches their product and campaign to the full group. The pitch should be delivered with conviction - not as parody, but as sincere advocacy for a terrible idea.
Debrief
What principles of good design/communication emerged by inversal? What assumptions about "good" products/campaigns did you discover by working backward from "bad"?
How to Teach It
How to Explain It
"Your job is to design the worst product and the most counterproductive ad campaign you can. Don't hold back. The worse the better. And then pitch it to us with complete conviction."
Why It Matters
Inversion thinking - working from "what's the worst version of this?" to "what does that tell us about the best?" - is one of the most productive problem-solving frameworks available. The Bad Ad Product Game applies this framework in a playful, collaborative format that generates genuine creative insight. By systematically constructing what fails, participants make visible the implicit assumptions behind what succeeds. The result is both funnier and more analytically rigorous than conventional brainstorming.
Common Coaching Notes
- Commitment is key. The pitch must be sincere, not ironic. Groups that wink at the audience while pitching their terrible product lose the exercise's value. Coach: "Believe in your product. It's the best worst product ever made."
- Inversion should be systematic. Some groups produce random randomness rather than disciplined inversion. Guide them: "Take one design principle and flip it completely. What happens?"
- Debrief the positive insights. The real value is in what the inversion reveals about positive design. Ask: "So what does a good version of this product actually need?"
Debrief Questions
- What design principles became visible through the inversion?
- What assumptions did you discover you were making?
- How does this approach to problem-solving differ from conventional brainstorming?
In Applied Settings
Organizational Context
The Bad Ad Product Game applies inversion thinking - one of the most productive analytical frameworks in design, strategy, and organizational problem-solving - to the context of product development and communication. In organizational settings, the exercise is used in innovation workshops, marketing team development, product design sessions, and any context where conventional approaches to problem definition have become limiting.
Workplace Applications
The exercise is valuable for teams that have become overly attached to their existing approaches or assumptions. By systematically constructing the worst possible version of something, participants expose the implicit beliefs that constrain their thinking - beliefs that often prevent innovation precisely because they operate below conscious awareness. The competitive pressure to produce the "best" bad product also generates genuine creative energy and laughter, which creates the psychological safety for more ambitious ideation in subsequent work.
Training and Classroom Use
In business school and professional training contexts, the exercise is frequently used in design thinking, marketing strategy, and innovation management courses. It pairs well with frameworks like first-principles thinking, Jobs to Be Done, and value proposition design, providing an experiential complement to the analytical tools those frameworks provide. Participants consistently report that the exercise changes how they think about product and communication assumptions.
Meeting and Workshop Integration
The exercise can be run as a 30-minute stand-alone activity or integrated into a longer innovation workshop. In either case, it works best when connected to a real organizational challenge: "Now that you've designed the worst version of [X], what does that tell you about what the best version needs to include?" This transition from the playful bad-product to the serious good-product is where the organizational development value lies.
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The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from Bad Ad Product Game.
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How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Bad Ad Product Game. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/bad-ad-product-game
The Improv Archive. "Bad Ad Product Game." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/bad-ad-product-game.
The Improv Archive. "Bad Ad Product Game." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/bad-ad-product-game. Accessed October 14, 2026.
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