What’s Wrong with Sarah McLachlan?

Probably nothing. Certainly less than whatever’s going on with you. Or me. 🥳

(And, Sarah, if you’re reading this: thanks for being a badass!)

But she’s the best way I know to talk about pain point marketing.

A Sarah Balance Sheet

Pros	Cons?
• Loves animals • Seems chill and humble • Canadian (she gets at least 20 points there) • Donates her songs, time, and energy to help society • Founded Lilith Fair (an all-female music festival from 1997-1999) • Free speech advocate (which is surprisingly risky nowadays) • Got through all the ridiculous nonsense of being a famous woman • Those ASPCA ads	• Those ASPCA ads?

You know the ones. Sad animal faces, the heart-string demolishing opening notes.. “In the arms of the angels…”

A screenshot of a moment from an ASPCA TV commercial. A golden retriever dog with Sarah McLachlan sitting next to it. The meme text says: Hi, I am Sarah McLachlan… and I am about to ruin your day. Drawn over the image in cartoon style are glittery sparkles, glasses on the dog, and a flowy black and white robe for Sarah.

I couldn’t watch more than 3 seconds of it EVEN now. (I tried. You can try your own luck here if you hate having dry eyes.)

Sarah herself described it as “painful” to watch.

It’s JUST. TOO. SAD.

Like the opening scenes of Up (2009).

An opening scene from the movie Up. A young woman and man laying on a picnic blanket in a green field. She’s pointing up at the sky and they’re both smiling. A cartoon drawing of an audience crying added to the foreground.

How dare they cut that many onions in one montage.

Those Pesky Pain Points

They’re memorable.

I’m still vividly traumatized by Artax in the Swamp of Sorrows (The Neverending Story).

The Swamps of Sadness scene from The Neverending Story. Artax, the white horse is sinking into the black muck. Atreyu is trying to pull him out. Drawn over the image is a censor bar that says “Censored for too much sadness” and a drippy happy face over Atreyu.

In storytelling, a pain point is part of the arc. We humans LOVE stories.

And stories need to have stakes — bad things that do or could happen.

In marketing, a pain point is:

A) a specific problem (you want to save your horse)

B) a challenge (your horse won’t move)

And/or C) a frustration (you just can’t pull your horse out of his despair)

Advertising is storytelling, too. But the story is about YOU, Dear Reader.

Advertising is faster than a book or movie. And you write the ending.

What’s better than being the main character?

(Probably a lot of things — did you see how much garbage Atreyu went through?!)

An Awful Example

Here’s AI’s attempt at an ad aimed at Atreyu. (Say that 3 times fast.)

Pain point marketing at its… finest?

A ChatGPT response screenshot that says: Option 1 — Emotional + Urgent. Atreyu, the Swamp is taking him. Every second Artax sinks deeper in the Sorrows. Your strength isn’t enough. Your courage isn’t enough. But with the right guide, you won’t lose him. You don’t have to watch your best friend disappear. Get the tools, the clarity, and the path to pull him out—before it’s too late.

So what do you think?

Does it hurt enough to make you buy whatever snake oil or course is waiting for you in the shadows?

For me… it just hurts.

It makes me want to look away. There’s not enough hope for me to make it through the ad (like a certain horse through a swamp).

A scene from Austin Powers with Dr. Evil holding a beer. Meme text says, “... and one for my homies” and a doodle of the Edgar haircut on his head.

Did YOU change the channel when the ASPCA ad came on?

In our modern age, do you scroll faster? Or look desperately for the “skip ad” button?

Maybe it’s just me.

Or maybe the world is already too full of pain points for me to believe *this one product can fix it*!

But… Results?!

1. That Sarah McLachlan ASPCA ad raised $30 million dollars in about a year (2006-2007). And it still plays (and pays) today. Sarah saved A LOT of puppers with that tear-jerker.

2. I can’t listen to the song “Angels” anymore.

3. When something works, everyone tries it. So everyone and their cousin has pressed HARD on pain points ever since.

My hypothesis: it’s not selling as much as it used to.

Is All Marketing Manipulation?

I’ll bookmark this for a future unBlog because I have thoughts, but basically: it depends what manipulation means to you.

Marketing is a tool. Like religion. Language. Or a third thing I haven’t thought of yet.

It depends who is using and for what purpose.
If you can actually solve my depressed horse problem, I really, really want to know about it.

What About Anti-Pain Points?

For me, hope is more motivating.

Instead of doom and gloom (we can’t fix everything), localized stories about small wins lets me look longer.

I don’t change the channel. Even if they still make me cry.

Take Rivers are Life for example:

Explore past projects on the Rivers are Life website. Projects 2, 3, 4, and 5 including River of Angles and From Mumbai with Love. Hearts are doodled on top of the image.

Solution-focused, hope-focused, storytelling. The problem (water pollution) is HUGE.

But the solution is simple. And small. And amazing. (It’s you. Taking action. The actions you can’t take while stuck in the muck.)

The Banksy graffiti of a little girl writing the words: No Act of Kindness, No Matter How Small, is Ever Wasted. Added to the image is a bright cartoon sun, grass, and a river with garbage in it. The little girl’s nonwriting hand is picking up cartoon garbage out of the river.

Won’t Someone Think of the Children?!

On the topic of imagery… oldschool World Vision commercials were, in my humble opinion, brutal.

Pain points at their finest.

If you don’t remember, the commercials were about sponsoring a child in Africa for just a few cents per day.

But they ran constant b-roll footage of flies landing on the faces of skeletal children. (I can’t even put one here as a reference in good conscience.)

Back then, giving to people in other countries was billed as helping the “less fortunate.”

And maybe it worked.

Maybe seeing dire situations, or feeling like a far-away savior galvanizes some people.

But it’s not the only way.

Your neighbor doesn’t have to be covered in flies for you to help them, right?

A New Story: Global Neighbors

What if, instead of being SO different from us, we help because people are the same?

What if everyone everywhere is just trying to build a life for themselves. Doing the best they can. Trying to keep their families safe.

That’s a very different story.

And it works.

A Marketing Uno Reverse Card

What if the recipient was the hero of the story? Instead of a helpless damsel in another castle.

What if the donor was just a neighbor lending a cup of sugar? Or Falkor the Luck Dragon carrying the hero to their destiny?

Bastion from the Neverending Story flying through the sky on Falkor the Luck Dragon’s back. The screenshot from the movie has white cartoon zooming lines and yellow glowing lines added. Bastion is wearing a teal scarf that’s blowing in the wind.

For example: a nonprofit that helps people who don’t have access to traditional bank accounts. (Like women and refugees.)

Kiva’s brand guidelines are clear: empowered not impoverished.

The borrowers are engaged, competent community members. They run households, businesses, and community groups around the world.

They’re just like you. And that’s powerful.

Borrowers from the Kiva website. All look joyful, empowered, and competent in their various jobs, locations, and environments. Some are barbers, farmers, or store owners working at their craft in brightly lit, colorful spaces.

What a difference perspective makes.

In 2012, Kiva won me over with empowered storytelling. I became a Kivan by loaning $25 back then — I’ve been repaid 16 times since.

That same $25 helped 16 rock stars in 12 countries — and counting.

When my son was old enough to talk, he picked a pig farmer to lend to (because he loved Angry Birds at the time).

An Angry Birds advertisement with the red, yellow, and black birds flying toward green pigs. Drawn over the image, the pigs are cartoonishly injured with bulging eyes or sweat drops. The three birds have aviation hats and scarves on.

Now choosing borrowers is a fun way to learn about the world for both of us. And the businesses people start. And places we haven’t been.

And, maybe best of all, it helps fight back the Nothing. The doomscrolling blahs. The why-is-the-world-like-this-blues. Every time.

Jack, the terrier-looking Chihuahua mix. Fluffy and white peeking around a corner. Drawn on his head is a cartoon version Amy the Copywriter as if he’s Falkor and she’s flying with him through the cartoon clouds.

I freaking LOVE being Falkor.

(Give Kiva a try if you do, too.)

The Sarah of it All (and So Can You)

When Zack Sang asked, “Do you get royalties from [the ASPCA ad]?”

McLachlan answers, “Oh hell no! I donated all of it. I always do. I donate my songs to all sorts of things. It’s easy to do.”