DLD06: Paid by the minute

Fifth session of day 2 of DLD06. (Conference's moblog - Flickr pictures - DLD06 at Google Blogsearch - Technorati dld06 tag).
Running notes: Andrew Robertson (CEO of BBDO Worldwide) is talking about branding and advertising, shows some cool ad concepts, and stresses the importance of "engaging the consumer": "I would love to be paid by the seconds of "consumer engagement time" that we generate for the advertiser". A member of the audience wonders whether there isn't something beyond engagement that brands should focus on: relationship.
Tom Kerschke, editor of bunte.t-online.de and Sven Slezak of StarNetOne present a feature on the website of Bunte, one of Burda's leading publications (think of a German People magazine): StarControl, which is a sort of real-time popularity index for stars, based on the number of times they're mentioned in the media (as I write, the top celebrity in Germany are Chancellor Angela Merkel - politics - and actor Brad Pitt for the entertainment index).
Next Hans-Peter Kleebinder, director of marketing for Mini (the car) in Germany. "Mini is more than a car": it's a lifestyle. He shows how they used analog/digital concepts (print, web, cell phone, movies, games and contests) to promote the car by engaging potential customers and stimulating user-generated content. That's quite a step away from the top-down approach BWM (owner of Mini) used a couple of years ago to promote the BMW cars: bwmfilms.com, which featured short "action" movies made by Hollywood directors. Kleebinder also stressed the need for speed: "be fast to be successful".