DO NOT view this document if you think you know what your fans care about most - (especially if you think that winning is at the top of their list).
As fans cut back on spending, professional sports teams need to capture more of their share of local entertainment dollars. A new major league innovation provides the most actionable blueprint for competitive advantage available today.
1. Return on Commitment™ (R.O.C.)
The Ultimate Measurement Tool
for How to Attract and Keep Fans
Raphael Louis Viton
Raff@maddockdouglas.com
Copyright 2010 Maddock Douglas, Inc.
1 MaddockDouglas.com Copyright 2010 MaddockDouglas, Inc. Return on Commitment
2. Why R.O.C.?
• Do you really know the answers to these questions…
– Why do your fans go to your sporting event instead of doing something else (having
dinner with friends or seeing a movie)?
– How much are your fans “investing” in being a fan, and are they getting what they
expect in “return” for being a fan?
– Ultimately, do you know how to best serve your fans - and provide them with the best
overall experience (and get a higher share of their entertainment dollars)?
– And, are your marketing communications and promotion efforts measured against
these metrics over time - and improving because of them?
• We noticed that NO ONE had a true quantifiable measure that provided specific
answers to these questions.
• Instead, teams relied on false assumptions for what mattered - like providing a
great “fan friendly” environment or winning (those rank 6th and 11th,
respectively, in terms of what fans find important)
• So we invented Return on Commitment - a single number to measure all your
efforts compared to other entertainment options
2 MaddockDouglas.com Copyright 2010 MaddockDouglas, Inc. Return on Commitment
3. What is R.O.C.?
> Maddock Douglas’ R.O.C. (Return on Commitment)
is a critical diagnostic tool that identifies what your
fans care about most in return for their commitment
to a sports franchise.
> MD has learned, from years of sports fan and
franchise research, that the R.O.C. is an essential
measurement of the overall health of a team and
the loyalty of its followers.
> The R.O.C. is derived from understanding the relationship between three key elements
of fandom investment: Time, Money and Emotion
> Time spent following the team: attending, watching, reading about, talking with friends
> Money spent on all aspects of fandom: games, merchandise, technology, fantasy sports,
betting
> The emotions fans feel over the highs and lows of a season
> The flip side of the R.O.C. is the return fans get from their time, monetary, and
emotional investments in their team – leading to renewed commitment over time
3 MaddockDouglas.com Copyright 2010 MaddockDouglas, Inc. Return on Commitment
4. Does R.O.C. Matter?
• We’ve utilized R.O.C. for teams and we know unequivocally that
it DOES matter
• Fans who report a high “return” are far more valuable than
those who report a lower return:
– They spend more annually - 2.3x more
– They have a stronger commitment to the team and are more likely
to say their commitment is increasing
– They are more likely to say they plan to attend more games next
year than they did this year
– They are more likely to say they plan to spend more next year than
they did this year
Low Return = 100 Annual Game Expenditures
Spending Index:
Q: How big is the return you get for the time, money, and
emotion you put into a game?
4 MaddockDouglas.com Copyright 2010 MaddockDouglas, Inc. Return on Commitment
5. R.O.C. Outcome:
Entertainment Option Blueprints for Action
Another important output of R.O.C. is understanding what truly is important to
fans - and how well teams perform relative to other entertainment options
– We measure what’s desirable to fans generally in an entertainment option, as
well as how being a fan of a team compares on those attributes to other
entertainment choices
– Thus, we can see how teams “compete” for entertainment dollars in a competitive
context. The tool to do so are Innovation Blueprints (1/ea.entertainment option):
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6. R.O.C. Outcome:
Score Comparison to Other Entertainment Options - EXAMPLE
Return Index (0-10 scale, Mean = 6.8)
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7. How can you get R.O.C. measured for your team?
• Two Options:
Option 1: Option 2:
- Custom study - Multi-sponspored (4-5 teams
- Uniquely tailored & proprietary from similar regions - e.g., NY,
data Chicago, LA)
- Choice of competitors, attributes - Shared data (except competitive
& R.O.C. scoring team data)
Price: $150,000 per client Price: $50,000 per team sponsor
(+ 10k per focus group) (+ 10k per focus group)
7 MaddockDouglas.com Copyright 2010 MaddockDouglas, Inc. Return on Commitment