pitch unfairly

Parks and Rec's Harvest Festival

Earn more than it costs, or Parks closes. Headliner: one tiny horse. Marketing plan, 2011, rebuilt as a live deck you can play and steal. More in Templates, strategy and planning.

Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, first slide Play the deck
Play full screen Make yours
  • 11 slides
  • 7-episode arc
  • Target: more than $0
  • 1 miniature horse

Steal the marketing plan structure

11 slides, one job each, in this order. Swap in your story and keep the order.

  1. 01
    CoverThe goal and the stakes in one line, plus the plan's owner and period.
  2. 02
    The landscapeWhat changed in your market since last year, as three facts, before any goal.
  3. 03
    The goal in one numberOne number everyone can check the day after, and what happens above and below it.
  4. 04
    AudienceThe few segments you serve, what each wants and gets, and who you are not for.
  5. 05
    The big ideaThe one sentence the campaign hangs on, short enough for a poster.
  6. 06
    ChannelsEarned, partner and paid channels, with the mix and why; each paid dollar must beat a free one.
  7. 07
    Program of workWorkstreams on one timeline, each with an owner, ending on the date that matters.
  8. 08
    BudgetWhere the money goes, and which lines are donated, earned or volunteered instead.
  9. 09
    KPI scorecardTargets set in advance against results, with fixed green, amber and red meanings.
  10. 10
    Risks with ownersEvery risk with an owner and a fix, updated when the landscape changes.
  11. 11
    The decisionWhat you need approved, by whom, on what terms, and what happens the day after yes.
What good strategy and planning do, and where they fail
  • Score last year before planning the next.
  • Name the few bets and, just as clearly, what you will stop doing.
  • Targets with owners and dates; resources follow the bets.
  • A list of everything
  • Bets without owners
  • Nothing stopped

The deck, slide by slide

Each one opens the live deck at that slide.

  1. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 1: One weekend to prove Parks pays its own way. 01One weekend to prove Parks pays its own way.
  2. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 2: The shutdown is over. The budget isn't back. 02The shutdown is over. The budget isn't back.
  3. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 3: The festival earns more than it costs, or Parks closes. 03The festival earns more than it costs, or Parks closes.
  4. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 4: Three audiences, and one man we've stopped trying to reach. 04Three audiences, and one man we've stopped trying to reach.
  5. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 5: The campaign fits on one poster: Li'l Sebastian is coming. 05The campaign fits on one poster: Li'l Sebastian is coming.
  6. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 6: Pawnee's own TV will cover us for free. Paid ads only fill the gaps. 06Pawnee's own TV will cover us for free. Paid ads only fill the gaps.
  7. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 7: Five workstreams, each with an owner, all landing on one weekend. 07Five workstreams, each with an owner, all landing on one weekend.
  8. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 8: 4 of 6 budget lines cost us no cash. 084 of 6 budget lines cost us no cash.
  9. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 9: One night went red. The number that mattered went green. 09One night went red. The number that mattered went green.
  10. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 10: Every risk had an owner. The biggest one wasn't on the list. 10Every risk had an owner. The biggest one wasn't on the list.
  11. Pawnee Parks and Recreation deck, slide 11: Approve the festival, and we bet the department on it. 11Approve the festival, and we bet the department on it.
What really happened, and what the 2026 rebuild changes

What really happened, 2011

  1. End of season 2: Pawnee's government shuts down
  2. S3E1 "Go Big or Go Home": Parks reopens on a shoestring; the auditors fund maintenance only
  3. Leslie bets the department on reviving the Harvest Festival: a financial success, or Parks is eliminated
  4. S3E2 "Flu Season": a feverish speech gets local businesses to donate; car dealers offer cars
  5. S3E4 "Ron & Tammy: Part Two": Ben gets police volunteers for security
  6. S3E5 "Media Blitz": the press tour keeps turning into questions about Ben's past
  7. S3E7 "Harvest Festival": Li'l Sebastian headlines; Ken Hotate says the grounds are cursed
  8. Tom loses the horse; he turns up in the corn maze
  9. A blackout strands the staff on the Ferris wheel; the Wamapoke casino lends a generator
  10. Opening morning: large crowds. "Camping" calls it Leslie's harvest festival success

Read the real story the episode, via Wikipedia

What the rebuild changes

  • The buzz meter. Toggle the lineup with and without Li'l Sebastian and watch the town go from polite interest to losing its mind.
  • Drag the channel mix. Slide budget from earned media to paid ads: reach barely moves, spend eats the profit target. Perd Hapley covers you for free.
  • A scorecard that runs live. Press Run the festival and each KPI fills in as the weekend happens: the lost horse, the curse, the blackout, and the number that went green.
  • The risk that flips red. Step the register from the plan to the day before to opening morning, as the risk nobody listed turns red and then resolved.

Make yours in ChatGPT

Type your site. We'll write the prompt with Pawnee Parks and Recreation's structure and your brand.