--- title: "Yellow Pages Mashup" description: "Small groups receive two unrelated business advertisements, merge them into a single commercial venture, and design a new advertisement poster showing their combined service. Groups then present their poster and analyze how contradictory services integrate." last_updated: "2026-09-07" canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/yellow-pages/" --- # Yellow Pages Mashup Small groups receive two unrelated business advertisements, merge them into a single commercial venture, and design a new advertisement poster showing their combined service. Groups then present their poster and analyze how contradictory services integrate. **Time:** 25 minutes. Source suggests 15 to 30 minutes; structured at 25 minutes to ensure all small groups present. **People:** 4 to 24. Trios or quartets; up to 6 small groups working in parallel. ## Choose this exercise **Purpose:** Practice combining divergent ideas into a single coherent offering under a tight constraint. **Use it when:** Use during ideation, product naming, or partnership strategy sessions to break fixed thinking about distinct market categories. **Skip it when:** Skip when a team needs to analyze factual balance sheets, resolve actual contract terms, or work strictly within defined regulatory limits. ## Materials and tools - Pre-clipped advertisement pairs (2 mismatched ads per group, or digital image equivalents) - 1 flip chart sheet or 11x17 paper per group - 2 dark markers per group - Roll of masking tape for posting work ## Before participants arrive 1. Clip or print pairs of mismatched business advertisements (for example, a tax accountant and a wrestling gym, or a pet groomer and a locksmith). 2. Place one pair of ads, one large sheet of paper, and markers at each small table. ## Say this to open Each table has two ads from completely unrelated businesses. Your team will merge these into a single new enterprise. Name the company, define what it offers, and draw a one-page advertisement that explains the business to a stranger. You have 12 minutes to build your ad. ## How to run it ### 1. Introduce task and assign pairs (3 minutes) Form groups of 3 or 4. Direct each group to the two advertisements on their table. Read the opening script. Announce that every member may choose whether to write, draw, pitch, or simply observe. ### 2. Invent merged venture and draw ad (12 minutes) Groups examine both businesses. They agree on a name, a core customer service, and a business model. They draw a standalone display advertisement on their paper that includes the company name, a slogan, and what problem it solves. Signal when 5 minutes and 2 minutes remain. ### 3. Share advertisements (6 minutes) Have each group tape their poster to the wall. Give each group up to 60 seconds to read their company name, display their ad, and state their core offering. Keep turns strictly timed so all groups present. ### 4. Debrief integration choices (4 minutes) Lead a brief discussion with the whole room using the debrief questions. Take 2 or 3 responses from the room. ## Debrief questions - Which integration obstacles did your team have to resolve to make your two services work together? - What common operational needs did the two separate businesses share once you forced them together? - How does forcing two distant concepts together change how you approach solving a familiar problem? **Finished output:** A physical or digital advertisement poster displaying a merged business model with name, slogan, and integrated customer offering. ## Remote Prepare digital breakout boards with two pre-placed image clips of mismatched local ads per board. Send groups to breakout rooms for 12 minutes to create a digital ad slide using text boxes and shape tools. Return to the main room, share screens, and conduct 60-second pitches followed by chat debrief. ## Hybrid Assign in-person and remote participants to separate groups. Remote groups work on a shared digital slide; in-person groups draw on paper. In-person facilitators photograph physical posters and upload them to the shared board so everyone views presentations in one gallery. ## Access and participation choices - Participants may contribute via spoken ideas, drawing, layout planning, or solely observing their group discussion. - Participants may pass on presenting without giving a reason by designating a teammate to read the poster. ## If the session gets stuck **A group is stuck trying to make the business logically realistic.** Remind them this is an exercise in forced connection, not an audited business plan. Direct them to pick the single strangest overlap and build from it. **Group spends the entire time arguing about the business name and has not drawn the ad.** Intervene at the 6-minute mark. Instruct them to pick whichever name was suggested first and begin sketching the layout immediately. ## Terms used here - Forced connection: An ideation technique where two unrelated objects or concepts are combined to spark new solutions. ## Sources and adaptation Observed in Relationship Makers Handbook, pages 481-482, under the title Yellow Pages. Retained the core mechanic from Relationship Makers Handbook: merging two curated, mismatched business ads into a new standalone advertisement and exploring operational synergies. Standardized team size to 3-4, set step timing to 25 minutes total, added concrete presentation limits, and provided hybrid/remote instructions. Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/yellow-pages/