Blurring the lines between content and advertising used to be a touchy subject—e.g., the outrage over Nike using The Beatles’ song “Revolution” in a commercial—but not anymore. At an Always On panel entitled “Keeping the IM Generation’s Mindshare,” media executives noted that young people are more accepting of ad messages—as long as they are entertaining, relevant and transparent, said panelist Jeremy Verba, CEO of social networking site Piczo. “The IM generation knows the lines are blurring and they’re okay with that. Brands shouldn’t worry about mixing promotional messages and content.” Moderator Matthew Bishop, of the Economist, asked him what sort of marketing offends that demographic. “Anything that tries to tell them what’s cool. Anything that pretends to be something its not. The users are the ones who decide what’s authentic, what’s cool. And the great thing is, they’ll tell you when you’re doing something wrong and they’ll praise you and spread the word when you do something right. Older people don’t understand that.” Bill Cleary, founder of CKS Partners picked up the thought: “That’s why Apple has done such an amazing job. People create their own mock commercials about them. Allowing your customers to control the brand message is brave and risky, but it’s often rewarded. That’s how you get mindshare.” Putting the actual creative as well as the brand is another trend that marketers will have to embrace, said Steve Starr, founder and CEO of Revver."How many people have heard of Ask A Ninja? “That site and YouTube stars like Lonelygirl15 is not only redefining the audience, it’s redefining creative.” In terms of monetizing such “unprofessional” (or “seemingly unprofessional") content vis a vis the IM generation is going to be a remaining challenge for traditional ad agencies, said Justin Townsend, CEO of IGA Worldwide. “Our role is and will continue to be centered on creating awareness. But things like the click-through model isn’t going to work with the IM generation. The audience is constantly evolving and will not fit into media buyers’ traditional silos.”