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.

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 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

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 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

 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
 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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 R.O.C. Outcome:
Score Comparison to Other Entertainment Options - EXAMPLE

Return Index (0-10 scale, Mean = 6.8)

6 MaddockDouglas.com Copyright 2010 MaddockDouglas, Inc. Return on Commitment

 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)

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Maddock Douglas Knows Sports Fans
Maddock Douglas Knows Sports Fans
> We enjoy a long and storied relationship with ESPN, collaborating on all types of
engagements to better understand the relationship between fans and their
favorite sports. Prior engagements include:
> New product/service development: leveraging to ESPN brand to understand potential viability of new consumer
products and services
> ESPN the Brand: large scale segmentation study to understand the role of sports in the lives of all
Americans — men, women, children, sports fans and non-sports fans
> ESPN Mobile: work to understand interest in the ESPN Mobile phone concept, size the market and develop
phone packages
> ESPN The Magazine: all of our research was published in the magazine
> Sports Nation: research to understand how Americans perceive sports and the role sports plays in their lives
> Franchise Rankings: worked with ESPN to develop a system to rate and rank each sporting team franchise in
North America on a series of key criteria. They publish a franchise rankings issue annually.
> Magazine subscribership study: research to understand the psychographics of ESPN The Magazine
subscribers
> New magazine concept: to determine interest in a new magazine concept among the target market, and refine
the concept
> ESPN Enterprises: work to determine consumer interest in purchasing DVDs compiled from ESPN and ABC
television footage
> ESPN Outdoors: work to understand the world of outdoor sports: fishing and hunting
> ESPN.com Site Visitor: work to understand who the ESPN.com Site Visitor is, their viewership patterns, usage,
behaviors and site ratings

©2008 Maddock Douglas, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written consent. 8
©2008 Maddock Douglas, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written consent. 9
Maddock Douglas Knows All Segments of Fans
> We worked with ESPN to better understand the relationship between
Americans and sports “fandom.” The sports fan market reaches more than
80% of Americans and the client wanted to explore how sports intersects
with the lives of Americans — sports fans and even non-sports fans to
leverage their brand with advertisers.
> Specific objectives included:
> Go beyond the syndicated research to understand the values, lifestyles,
personalities and psychographics of Americans — intertwined with how they
consume sports
> Develop a landmark segmentation to provide insight and guidance for advertisers
in terms of three dimensions:
> Differing potential for marketers of all categories
> Messages that resonate with each of the segments
> Media properties that these segments turn to/use

> Provide the basis for tracking/measuring change within the sports fan marketplace
in order to continuously remain “on top” of the sports fan marketplace

©2008 Maddock Douglas, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written consent. 10
©2008 Maddock Douglas, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written consent. 11
Maddock Douglas Knows Professional Sports Teams
> We have partnered with ESPN The Magazine in conducting the Franchise
Rankings for all the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL teams since 2003. The overall
objectives of the study are:
> To create the basis for ranking all 122 major professional sports franchises in the
U.S. and Canada, in terms of the return they provide fans for the time, money and
emotion they invest following sports in general, as well as their favorite sports
teams specifically.
> ESPN The Magazine then uses that data to rank the franchises, based on the
desirability ratings of 21 individual attributes that look at all aspects of fandom, both
on and off the field.

©2008 Maddock Douglas, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written consent. 12
Maddock Douglas Knows The State of the Fan
> In 2005, MD developed for ESPN a research study to understand sports fans
in America — the “State of the Fan.” Research conducted in 2006 expanded
on many of the themes previously explored. The 2007 version added in
several team, league and player comparisons.
> Overall objectives are to understand the State of the Fan in terms of:
> Attitudes
> Behaviors
> Sports consumption
> Reaction to major/current issues

> In addition, the following themes were explored:

> Betting and cheating
> Fantasy sports
> Big 4 sports leagues
> Media preferences
> Game attendance

©2008 Maddock Douglas, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written consent. 13