Do you watch Severance?
It’s that dark, fascinating show where employees at a mysterious corporation undergo a procedure that splits their consciousness in two—one for work, one for personal life.
When they’re at work, they have no memory of their outside life. And when they leave the office, they remember nothing about their job.
The result? Two completely separate selves. No bleed-over. No distractions. A total psychological wall between “work you” and “real you.”
It’s a compelling sci-fi concept. Maybe even a little desirable at first glance.
But in the real world, people aren’t severed.
People don’t stop being human when they walk into the office, open their inbox, or scroll through your latest newsletter. It’s not that they don’t care about “cultural continuity” or 🤌 “tradition” 🤌 — it’s that (if they’re under retirement age), they’re probably just trying to make it through the day.
The urgent stuff—deadlines, groceries, bedtime routines—pushes even deeply held values to the back burner.
What do people care about day to day?
- What’s relevant to the chaos of their lives
- What helps them cope and makes them laugh
- What you can help them get off their plate right now
So what do we do?
We stop marketing like we’re talking to an idealized version of our audience—someone with infinite time and total alignment with our mission.
And we start speaking to real people. In real time. As they are.
That means making things easier, not heavier. More immediately relevant, not more abstract. Like:
- Scheduling programming at a time that works for parents
- Framing your work in terms of how it helps people today—not just what it stands for
- Using humor, relevance, and real-life language, instead of institutional or spiritual jargon
Because unlike Mark S. or Dylan G. on Severance, we’re not living compartmentalized lives.
We’re scrolling through Taylor Swift memes at our desks.
We’re checking Slack while stirring soup.
We’re working and volunteering and forgetting what day it is.
But we’re still paying attention—to the things that feel like they get us.
If your marketing meets people there?
They’ll show up.