• April 7, 2008

Millions of Us is spearheading the development of an research consortium aimed at analyzing the impact of marketing and advertising in virtual worlds. The New York-based virtual worlds marketing agency has already recruited companies like Gaia Interactive (Gaia Online), WeeWorld and Sulake (Habbo) to be part of the group--and commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct the research.

The goal is to come up with a rudimentary set of "standardized, credibly objective ROI assessments," that advertisers can use to inform their decisions when it comes to the overall use of virtual worlds in their marketing plans. The data is expected to be available in June, and will target a range of personnel--from CMO's and brand managers, to media buyers and journalists.

--Tameka Kee