$5.5B Settlement Public Relations & Outreach

WOC | Signal provided the Payment Card Settlement public relations and outreach program to help millions of businesses claim their share of $5.5 billion.

The Opportunity

After close to 20 years of litigation, the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement entered its claims phase on Dec. 1, 2023. This process would see more than $5.5 billion returned to millions of Visa and Mastercard merchants. This was the largest private antitrust class-action settlement in U.S. history, and an outreach and education program was needed to get the word out to merchants. WOC | Signal was retained and authorized by the court to deliver the Payment Card Settlement public relations and outreach program.

payment card settlement icon

The Solution

Our team developed and led an integrated communications strategy to complement the mailed claim form and paid ads which were overseen by the settlement administrator. Working closely with the administrator and co-counsel, our payment card settlement public relations program integrated multiple, integrated strategies, including:

Branded Content

  • Branded swipe machine icon applied to all program materials
  • Messaging to emphasize the settlement’s size, legitimacy and ease of claiming
  • Campaign collateral including printed handouts, digital resource kit, PR assets and social media content
  • Educational webinars for trade association leaders and their members
  • Trade show display for in-person outreach

Media Outreach

  • Press release translated into 9 languages plus additional milestone releases
  • Video news release in English and Spanish
  • Story pitches to media and media interview support

Social Media

Community Relations

The Results

Trade association outreach and paid influencer content established early momentum. Media attention picked up as the first claims deadline approached in May. Paid social media activity, Small Business Expo events and ‘how to’ webinars sustained engagement as the claims deadline was extended to Feb. 4, 2025. Our Sept. online survey of 113 random business owners found 81% were aware of the settlement and 75% of those said they had claimed. Surveys of webinar attendees in Feb. 2024 and Oct. 2025 found high satisfaction with the information and increased intent to claim. The final number of claims filed are still being validated; however, the integrated communications results as of Feb. 5 produced 70.7 million targeted impressions, including:

EARNED MEDIA OUTCOMES:

  • 19.6 million estimated online readership
  • 22.1 million broadcast reach
  • 64 average domain authority of news sites, which is above average

SOCIAL OUTCOMES (Organic and Paid):

  • 19.3 million impressions (X, FB, IG, TT)
  • 223,000 social engagements
  • 102,800 clicks
  • 2 million influencer impressions
  • 107,000 YouTube channel views

ASSOCIATION OUTREACH:

  • 250+ trade associations contacted
  • 6.5 million members represented

OWNED

  • 72,000 digital outreach kit unique visitors
  • 45 emails sent and 1,324 received
  • 45.6% average email open rate
  • 7.6% average email click rate
  • 13 webinars with 27,750 registrations and 7,000 attendees
  • 500 in-person interactions through Small Business Expo events
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