A strategic plan to the BEST Italian spring break and pasta
As the trees start to bloom and shirt sleeves get shorter, college students across the nation prepare for their spring break trips to sunshine-filled beaches.
This year, I will not be joining the mass exodus south for the spring. Instead, I have the amazing opportunity to travel to Italy with my family of eight.
Over a ten-day period my family, boyfriend and I will be conquering the beautiful Italian landscape between Florence and Rome.
We will visit famous museums, Italian wineries and small hidden villages. It will be fabulous!
While I have many hopes and expectations for this trip, my boyfriend, Kaleb, and I have one important goal to accomplish as a couple…
To find the best spaghetti dish In italy.
For those who may not know, Kaleb’s favorite food in the whole world is spaghetti.
In order to accomplish this, I have laid out a strategic plan for our week by defining our objectives, strategies and tactics.
Step 1 – Pasta Objective
To begin, this goal is broad. So, to help us focus in, I have established a pasta objective.
In public relations, objectives are set during the planning process to help narrow down the campaign’s goals.
These also give a measurable aspect of the public relations efforts including results and time frame.
Our pasta objective is…
To choose the #1 spaghetti dish among the restaurants that Kaleb and I eat at within the week that we are in Italy.
This gives us a quantifiable objective from which we can form a plan of attack.
Step 2 – Dining Strategy
When creating a public relations campaign, practitioners devise strategies that correlate to each specific objective. These are the plans a PR team must accomplish in order to achieve a specific goal.
For Spaghetti purposes, our strategy is…
Eat Spaghetti Daily.
One way or another, Kaleb and I must try a new type of spaghetti every day that we are in Italy.
Step 3 – Ordering Tactic
Lastly, tactics are the actual vehicles that PR practitioners use to accomplish their strategy. In other words, they are the to-do list. This could include writing a social media post or sending out a press release.
For our trip, there are three tactics or ways that we can taste spaghetti…
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ORDER IT AS OUR MEALS
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TRY IT FROM A FAMILY MEMBER’S PLATE
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REQUEST A SAMPLE FROM THE KITCHEN (THIS MAY GO OVER WEIRD, BUT IT IS AN OPTION.)
From here we will rank each tasting on a scale of 1-10. We will then log our responses and restaurants as well as take a picture with each plate so that we can differentiate. At the end of the trip, we will determine the winning spaghetti dish.
Now, this plan may seem limiting. Those who have traveled to Italy may be screaming at their computer saying, “Try more things! There’s more to Italian food than pasta!” You are right, and we will. However, this is a fun way to track our travels through Italy, and we are excited to try.
To recap, the steps to accomplishing our Italian spring break are:
Goal: To find the best spaghetti dish in Italy.
Objective: To choose the #1 spaghetti dish among the restaurants that Kaleb and I eat at within the week that we are in Italy.
Strategy: Eat spaghetti daily.
Tactic: Order it as our meal, try it from a family member’s plate or request a sample.
Wish us luck! Happy travels 🙂
Visit Cutting Edge PR or PR Couture for more information on strategic public relations planning.