(Business 2.0) – Mindshare Entertainment president Peter Tortorici—and his clients—will not be ignored. Let the rest of the advertising industry stand by as jaded, TiVo-wielding viewers tune out commercials. Tortorici is putting TV ads back in the spotlight.

His brainstorm is The Days, a teen drama series that aired last summer on ABC. The network didn't produce the series; instead two Mindshare clients, Unilever and Sears, picked up the tab.

All parties made out in the deal. ABC paid nothing for a series that shot to second in its time slot. The advertisers, for about the cost of a single commercial, got to air their ads at choice points in the hour and place their products unobtrusively in the show—beyond the reach of TiVo's zappers. "We were thrilled with the results," says Perianne Grignon, VP for media services at Sears. "Shows like The Days can make the magic happen again." — RACHEL ROSMARIN