SUNSET BEACH -- It has been one month since London-based virtual content creation firm Rivers Run Red opened an office in San Francisco, and chief executive officer Justin Bovington has announced it will open a New York office mid-year.

Adidas and Reebok are the main accounts at RRR's first U.S. office, and Ben James, head of the office, says about 23,000 pairs of the virtual version of Adidas's a3 Microride shoes have been sold.

RRR's San Francisco office opened in January in a joint venture with Isobar, a global digital marketing network that provides its customers with global reach, integration, and supply chains.

Adidas's success in Second Life has solidified the relationship between the firm and Rivers Run Red.
“It’s been a great campaign and we’re looking forward to the next stage of our activity for Adidas within SL,” James says.

RRR clients are now beginning to create long-term goals specifically with Virtual Worlds and strategies that benefit the SL community, James says.

In addition to providing a launching platform for firms moving into the virtual arena, RRR has also developed a measurability system that identifies different aspects of SL users. The measurability system tracks data pertaining to whom, why, and how people use SL. One of RRR's goals is to see how SL fits into the traditional media realm, like TV.

“It also allows us the ability to identify key indicators that we can use to measure the performance of different types of activity." James says. "We can focus on live events to measurements of retail stores. Two things that we are trying to accomplish are defining the measurability tool with enough flexibility to cover any data element. In addition, we need to build a system that treats SL as its own channel,” James says.

RRR continues to work with a number of partners to create a measurable and accountable future Second Life.

"How big are we? We have the advantages of being a small agency focused on Second Life with all the advantages of having access to a global network,” James says.

James will be a speaker at the Virtual Worlds Conference in New York City, March 28 and 29.

Speaking from his office in London, RRR Chief Executive Officer Justin Bovington says that as soon as Linden Lab expands its server farm to Asia, RRR plans to open an office in Singapore and Hong Kong. "That's where the market is going," Bovington says.

Bovington also announced RRR plans to open offices in New York mid-year.

Bovington also said picking up potential clients in South Africa is a possibility when Linden Labs extends its server farm.