Hawke Media Special Report: April 15, 2021

It gets increasingly more difficult to hear and report on stories of violence against BIPOC people and communities. However, silence won’t bring justice.

This week the news cycle has been dominated by stories of unarmed black men who have been brutalized at the hands of law enforcement. Their names are US Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario, George Floyd, and Duante Wright.

The first in army fatigues, the second in handcuffs while pinned to the street, and the third in a traffic stop for an air freshener. All to illustrate the relatively innocuous circumstances where these men were perceived as threats to those subduing them.

Everyone should be afforded the right to due process, at the very least. And the continued violence and murder of unarmed black people at the hands of police represents fundamental failures from policy to enforcement, from the top to the bottom.

Consumer Trends

Global eCommerce Adoption

Source: Mastercard

• According to Mastercard’s Recovery Insights: Commerce E-volution report, “in 2020, e-commerce made up roughly $1 out of every $5 spent on retail, up from about $1 out of every $7 spent in 2019.”

Recovering Abandoned Carts: When Is It Too Late?

Source: Mapp

• According to customer identification analytics for UK-based shoppers, re-engaging shoppers with abandoned carts can be very time-sensitive.
• For example, shoppers who have cart values that are less than £105 are more receptive to re-engagement within 4 hours of leaving your website.

Post-COVID Restlessness

Source: Google

• According to an analysis of recent search patterns from the Google Ads Research team, there has been a spike in search intent for travel-related queries.

Business Trends

Ad Spend

Source: MediaPost

• Through the height of the pandemic, online ad spend surged 12.2% YoY in 2020.

The Post-COVID Rebound

Source: Reuters

• In an interview with 60 Minutes, Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell had this to say about his outlook on the economy post-COVID, “If you look at what private-sector forecasters are saying or what forecasters who sit around this table who are on the Federal Open Market Committee, our rate-setting committee, what they’re forecasting is growth for this year in the range of 6% or 7%, which would be the highest level in, you know, 30 years. Or even maybe a little bit higher. And forecasting unemployment to move down substantially from 6%, where it is now, maybe to between 4% and 5%.”
• According to JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO, Jamie Dimon, “strong consumer savings, expanded vaccine distribution and the Biden administration’s proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan could lead to an economic “Goldilocks moment.””

Fast Food Boom

• “U.S. job openings in the accommodation and food service industry increased by 104,000 to reach 761,000 on the last day of February from the prior month, according to federal data.” – Reuters
• “Hiring cannot keep pace. The U.S. restaurant industry in March was still about 1.2 million employees short from the same month in 2020, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.” – Reuters