Venables, Bell & Partners' clever but low-key print ads touting HBO's Oz on DVD are so much more restrained than the show itself by necessity. "We need to remind people just how intense and graphic this show is, but without using gratuitous violence and sex," explains CD Paul Venables. "The trick on HBO Home Video is to get people excited about the show, but not by using the show. The pitfall of using the show in that fashion is it comes off as another tune-in ad. And we're selling the DVD, in many cases to people who don't tune in-a lot of the consumer base for the DVD collections is people who don't get HBO. So we always avoid creative that looks like a trailer or a teaser poster."

Client: HBO Home Video Agency: Venables, Bell & Partners, S.F. CDs: Paul Venables, Greg Bell AD: Crystal English CW: Eric Liebhauser Photographer: Craig Cutler