Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, almost 10 million [AS1] [MS2] refugees from the occupied territories have crossed the Polish border. Poland has welcomed more Ukrainian refugees than any other nation. However, many Ukrainians were looking for shelter in major Polish cities (like Warsaw, Cracow, or Wroclaw) which were already overcrowded, causing rental hikes, increased competition for jobs—all amid an unprecedented rise in inflation. It became evident, that to deal with the increasing stream of refugees, the movement had to be redirected to smaller cities. Places where life conditions might be even better than in big cities. Moreover, like everywhere else in the world, small towns in Poland are beginning to suffer from depopulation, as young people move to bigger cities.

Mastercard – the brand that has social responsibility in its DNA – decided to act quickly and do it’s best to help Ukrainian in refugee crisis.

Bearing in mind the goal of achieving the best possible media results, the agency recommended leading communication in two pillars - mainstream information and four thematic sections. In addition, the agency recommended cooperation with an expert who would give credibility to the campaign’s messaging and support it with his/her authority and expertise in the field of psychology, especially important was the issue of counteracting the hate speech. The campaign expert became Joanna Gutral, an experienced psychologist.

Mastercard believes in “doing well by doing good” and delivers it through data and technology tools. The “Where to Settle” project by Mastercard is an innovative, data driven tool to provide access to economic opportunity, but also to support local governments and communities, key stakeholders in the Mastercard ecosystem.

The “Where To Settle” digital platform empowers refugees while boosting the growth of smaller towns in Poland. Driven by Mastercard's anonymized transaction data, the digital platform then combines data on average salaries for job segments and provinces from the Central Statistics Office, and data on housing prices provided by partners. Tool shows an approximate earnings versus expenses report for prospective locations based on the unique needs of the refugee and their family.

Mastercard’s “Where to Settle” shows how properly used data, aggregated and anonymized, can have a positive impact on communities, society and the economic inclusion of everyone.

By tracking the evolving needs of Ukrainian refugees (from initial shelter to housing and jobs), we were able to develop a unique platform, dedicated to help them find a place to live and work in Poland, while actually supporting local communities' needs.

“Where To Settle” – is a digital platform, created by Mastercard in cooperation with Morizon-Gratka Group, part of the biggest Polish news organisation, providing job and apartment rental offers for the displaced Ukrainians. The comprehensive digital tool aggregates Mastercard’s spending insights and customised data from the Polish Central Statistical Office. It asks those looking for new homes to input information such as preferred employment, family size and more. To communicate the tool we reached out to local governments and officials to pitch their cities to the Ukrainian Refugees inviting them to settle in their towns and showing them the highlights and hotspots in each area.

1. We introduced the engaging platform delivering support to people in refugee crisis:

a. We attracted 242,17k UU to the platform, 73,7k to fill-in completed forms. Basing on data form Where to Settle and number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, we estimate that even 20,05%* refugees benefited from the platform!

b. 92% of Ukrainians engaged in helping refugees found the tool useful

2. Thanks to the Where to settle we significantly lifted Mastercard’s perception on such important factors as “technological” +12(UA), “modern” +14(UA), “social” + 14(PL) + 11(UA)

3. Business impact: we increased Mastercard’s usage intent among non-users. 57% of Poles and 80% of Ukrainians declare usage intent after contact with the platform.

*thanks to forms from the platform, we know that among users the average family was 4,08 persons large. It gives 300 696 persons who benefited from the platform – 20,05% of Ukrainian refugees (estimated 1,5mln).