It may sound like a think tank, but the Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness makes TV commercials.

The Venice company, co-founded by movie director Michael Bay, has the mission to create “emotionally engaging and entertaining content” that also sells merchandise. It has eight full-time employees and contracts with 10 filmmakers, including Bay, best known for big-budget action pictures such as his “Transformer” franchise; Rob Cohen, who recently directed “Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”; and Steve Carr, director of “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”

The institute’s “emotionally engaging” commercials include Victoria’s Secret campaigns directed by Cohen and an Audi spot featuring Dustin Hoffman directed by Bay. But the company’s biggest success was a Hallmark Cards commercial about an illiterate man who learned to read greeting cards.

The script was originally rejected by both the famous card company and ad agency Leo Burnett, but the company produced it anyway. Hallmark Cards Inc. executives wept after a screening.

“It was a great validation for us as a company.” said Scott Gardenhour, co-founder and chief executive of the institute.

Gardenhour believes advertising of the future will be integrated into the narratives of movies and TV shows, and that the institute is poised to profit from that trend.

“That’s one thing that made Michael Bay successful,” Gardenhour said. “He always asked ‘How much merchandise can we move with this film?’ At the end of the day, we understood it was a business. Michael has always applied that to his movies.”