Every now and then an advertising strategy comes along that is smart, funny and memorable (and, for an advertising campaign to get my attention, it has to have all three qualities in spades).

Anyway, I was genuinely impressed to see how creative HBO was in promoting the upcoming season of Big Love, a very cool series that had me hooked midway through the very first episode.

To reach potential viewers in new and unexpected ways, HBO has placed ersatz ads alongside the wedding announcement sections of the New York and LA Times. The ads promote funny, but faux, products and services for polygamists. They’re very smart and very irreverent (just like the series itself). In fact, when’s the last time you saw TV ads alongside wedding announcements?

My favorite ad is for Polygaworld, a travel agency specializing in destinations for polygamists. That’s beautiful. In fact, I can just picture the Club Med for men and their plural wives.

Anyway, hats off to HBO and its agency for creating an advertising campaign that I actually paid attention to.

Thanks to Ms. Vividor for the idea.