If your household is anything like mine, you may not be as excited for this week’s Severance season finale as you were a few months ago. What started out as a strong second season (after waiting three long years for it) has taken a bit of a nosedive recently, with S2E8 now the lowest rated episode of the series (a daunting 6.7 on IMDb). Wariness has crept back in. The PTSD of Lost and Westworld looms. This reel plays on a loop in my mind daily:
But perhaps not all hope is lost. The work is mysterious and important, is it not? Let’s reintegrate ourselves with some of season 2’s incredible marketing stunts that had us all unbelievably excited back in January.
The Hype Up
The Glasgow New York City Block
Outside-the-box thinking happing literally inside the box. On January 14th, inside New York’s Grand Central Station, Apple TV+ recreated the Macrodata Refinement office inside a glass box featuring the show’s actual actors, in character, for over three hours. Instantly iconic. Surely this is not the first you’ve heard about it.
No dialogue, no explanation, just the surreal sight of Lumon’s MDR department transported into the real world. The stunt was a two-pronged success: in-person and tangible, while still generating massive online appeal. Thousands of posts populated as a result, and people loved it. It was marketing that didn’t feel like marketing—it felt like an artistic extension of the show itself.
Corporate Comms
Of course, not all of season 2’s marketing budget was poured solely into the Grand Central activation (though at a rumored $20M per episode, I am curious about that budget). More traditional marketing tactics came into play with an email campaign where subscribers received emails cryptically promoting the season premiere from “Lumon Industries,” written in the fictional company’s distinct voice and tone. Do they also have a deck? Brand guidelines? Gimme!
great piece of email marketing by Severance/Apple TV! pic.twitter.com/Yw0LNuTKS7
— antigoni (@antigxni) January 12, 2025
Apple Industries
Is Lumon Industries actually Apple? The lines between fiction and reality are blurred, to say the least. In the weeks leading up to the season 2 premiere, in addition to the email campaign, Severance blew up Apple’s website to promote the show, even on pages for unrelated products.
Apple’s marketing of Severance season 2 is WILD pic.twitter.com/NJSJ6kp8hQ
— Aaron (@aaronp613) January 17, 2025
Not only that, but Apple CEO Tim Cook starred in a recent promo for season 2 as a severed employee himself.
Ben Stiller has openly compared Lumon to Apple in certain aspects—the cult like following, the clean-cut aesthetics, the idolization of the founder. It’s no surprise Apple doesn’t mind though, as the show has skyrocketed as the top watched program for the streaming platform across markets, even surpassing the beloved Ted Lasso.
The Bonus Content
The Lexington Letter & The You You Are
But that’s not all! Apple didn’t just promote Severance—they continue to worldbuild through fun little artifacts. The company released not one but two free e-books tied to the series: Severance: The Lexington Letter (Lemony Snicket vibes with mysterious and confusing lore, of course) and a semi-complete version of Ricken Hale’s self-help book The You You Are (available in audiobook or e-book format, featuring all the delightfully pretentious quotes we heard in season 1 and more).
“Music To Refine To” featuring ODESZA
Anyone who works off a desktop knows the power of an 8-hour YouTube playlist to get through the day. From “lo-fi beats” to “rainy day coffeeshop jazz,” it’s a step above muzak, while not being distracting enough to completely derail your day. Now you can add “Music to Refine To” to your list, an ambient soundtrack with ODESZA inspired by the series. I’m only about 3 hours in so far, but the spirit of Kier has undoubtedly increased my productivity thus far in this pleasant little piece of marketing that shows Apple TV+ really understands what they’re doing platform to platform.
Lumon on LinkedIn
In perhaps the most meta marketing move, Lumon Industries maintains an active LinkedIn company page with corporate updates written in the same sterile, vaguely menacing language used in the show. It also gives us a chance to admire how deeply dark some of those inspirational posters are. Art design? Lovely. Copy? Threatening.
Overall, Severance’s marketing has leveled up big time. In addition to the above, collaborative campaigns have also begun cropping up, with Lumon Industries appearing in a ZipRecruiter ad (which personally felt a touch too unsettling for my taste) and a State Farm ad. These, along with the more traditional, online marketing techniques, make for a good approach in and of itself. But the Grand Central Station stunt really blows it out of the water, and signals something important about the future of television promotion: real-world experiences.
In an age where our attention is constantly fragmented across endless streaming options, physical installations and experiential marketing create memorable moments that cut through the noise. And the macrodata backs it up: according to Deadline, Severance’s return has been a major driver of Apple TV+ sign-ups, fueling a +126% increase in new subscribers between Jan. 1-19, 2025 vs. Dec. 1-19, 2024 (Note: the in-person activation occurred during this timeframe).
Erin Konrad with Collider said it best: “Traditional marketing campaigns that solely rely on the internet or social media should be a thing of the past. Pop-up or interactive events can inspire a lot of chatter—not just from in-person attendees, but also from people who can view the event online. It’s likely that pop-ups that feature the stars of the show (like Severance) would elicit even more buzz, since everyone loves to see a celeb up close and personal (or in a unique setting).”
Whether or not the season 2 finale redeems the recent narrative stumbles, Severance‘s marketing campaign has already achieved something remarkable: it’s made advertising into something viewers actively seek out and enjoy rather than avoid. Just like the show blurs the line between work and life, its promotion blurs the boundary between marketing and art.
In the meantime, remember: please try to enjoy each episode equally.
