Jake From State Farm Drops Into the Shadowy World of Severance

Jake from State Farm is looking for the exit, but the popular pitchman has unwittingly landed in the sterile bowels of Lumon Industries. Can he escape and, if he does, will he still be the same affable good neighbor he was before?  

Fortunately for Jake, he’s not actually stuck in the shadowy corporate hellscape of Apple TV+’s hit series, Severance. He’s just a visitor, helping a 20-something woman “sever” from her parents’ car insurance in the brand’s new campaign.

Presiding over the scene in the 60-second hero spot is Mark S., played by Severance actor and executive producer Adam Scott, dropping truth bombs about adulting and inside jokes about goats. 

The work, from agency partner Highdive and director Ben Stiller, was originally intended to do double duty in promoting the insurance carrier’s message while hyping the much-anticipated January return of Severance.  

But State Farm delayed the campaign as the planned launch date coincided with the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles (Apple canceled the red-carpet premiere for Severance for the same reason; Jake from State Farm had been scheduled to appear at the event). As the largest insurer in California, State Farm has been criticized for canceling thousands of homeowner policies last year, many in the areas most heavily damaged in January’s fires. The brand also scrapped its Super Bowl 59 ad.

The Severance-themed ads, shifted to drop midway through the season, are a departure for State Farm in that they target two different demographics—Gen X parents and their Gen Z kids—at the same time. 

Cultural moment

A tie-in to the buzzy sci-fi thriller made strategic sense for both audiences, according to Alyson Griffin, State Farm’s head of marketing, who has prioritized links to music, sports, and other entertainment in the company’s recent campaigns.

“When something like the new season of Severance comes up—a cultural moment that’s going to generate a lot of excitement and can help us tell a story to two segments that matter very much to us—we want to lean in,” Griffin told ADWEEK. “We’re always thinking about showing up where our targets are, not asking them to come to us, and being in places where insurance is typically not.”

The campaign will be a “test and learn” exercise featuring an online landing page with two separate sets of information—one for parents and the other for young adults. Developing content for dual audiences and housing it side-by-side on a dedicated microsite is a first for the brand, Griffin said.

Cutting the apron strings

With Griffin as a self-proclaimed Severance devotee, State Farm’s in-house team brainstormed the concept of a young adult “severing” from a parent’s insurance policy. The work intends to make a subtle connection to dual personas called “innies” and “outies” in the series.

“We flushed out the idea, talked to Ben Stiller and Adam Scott, and they were just as excited about it as we were,” said Griffin said, noting the brand has partnered with Apple TV+ in the past, via an ad starring Patrick Mahomes and Cristo Fernandez from Ted Lasso. “We promised to take good loving care of their world, and they said they’d do the same.”

State Farm and agency teams got critical intel from the show’s new season from director Stiller, which led to the goat bite reference and other IYKYK details in the content.

Creatives used actual props and sets from Severance for the campaign, which includes a 15-second vignette of a confused and frightened young driver running through Lumon’s maze-like hallways. 

Expanding world of Severance

The campaign’s hero spot, along with its 30-second cut-down and 15-second vignettes, will air on digital and social platforms. Media buys and other placements will target Gen X parents and their Gen Z offspring, intending “to start conversations in families,” Griffin said.

The twisty world of Severance, meanwhile, has expanded its media reach. Audacy launched “The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott,” promising behind-the-scenes breakdowns with the creators, cast, crew, and fans. 

State Farm is the presenting sponsor for new episodes of the second season, with guests including showrunner Dan Erickson, stars Zach Cherry, John Turturro, and Trammel Tillman, along with superfans Jon Stewart, Kristen Bell, and Dax Shepard.