Bolt Taps Sarah McLachlan in Plea to Rescue Shopping Carts

In a world of increasing competition for market awareness–particularly in the fintech and ecommerce spaces–Bolt, a checkout technology platform, knew it was important to make a splash to kick off 2022. While the struggle for awareness in a saturated space is a challenge, Bolt is tackling an even bigger pain point for retailers: without the one-click experience Bolt offers, 75%-77% of shoppers drop off before finalizing purchases, representing a hundreds of billions of loss revenue annually in the U.S. alone.
To help raise awareness for Bolt’s solution to this massive problem, Bolt and Maximum Effort tapped Sarah McLachlan–Grammy award winning singer-songwriter and star of the ASPCA’s ubiquitous TV commercials from the 2000’s featuring her hit song “In the Arms of an Angel”–for a new campaign inspired by this iconic work. In Bolt’s campaign,
which launched January 31, 2022, McLachlan turned her attention from abandoned animals and towards abandoned online shopping carts–using the same melancholy music, tone, and visuals throughout the hilariously ironic ad. And to continue McLachlan’s support of the ASPCA, Bolt took the opportunity to contribute to her cause. Bolt built a custom store on its website where shoppers could purchase heavily discounted ($1) pet accessories. For each item bought, Bolt donated $10 to the ASPCA, reaching their goal of $100,000 in donations in the first week of the campaign.
The “Abandoned Carts” campaign launched on MNTN, the CTV platform, in addition to going live during Discovery Channel’s “Puppy Bowl” that mirrors the super bowl. This irreverent campaign was picked up by almost all major advertising media outlets, garnering coverage in AdAge, Fast Company, The Huffington Post, Billboard, and ET, while also setting the Twittersphere on fire.
At a time when Bolt was jostling for increased brand awareness and market share, this unique creative and directorial execution helped put the organization on the map.