Barclays have announced that both EAT and Subway have re-affirmed their commitment to contactless payments through the launch this week of  in-store and point-of-sale campaigns aimed at raising awareness (and hence usage) of the contactless transactional feature found on their Barclaycard.

This is of consequence to the contactless payment market as both companies are in a position to help boost usage of contactless payments within metropolitan areas. The campaign seeks to raise the profile of the contactless symbol, which is common to both the cards with the relevant technology and the retail outlets that are able to accept contactless payment.

And now – the quotes;

Rene Batsford, Head of IT at EAT., said of the campaign, “We see contactless as a major product differentiator – we can say to customers that choosing to pay contactless in EAT. will give you valuable lunchtime minutes to spend away from queues. But whilst we have the technology, thanks to Barclays and Barclaycard, we now feel we have to help inform customers how contactless works and some of the benefits that they can expect.”

Julie Pottier, Services Purchasing Manager at Subway, believes that the future is contactless. “Subway is proud to be involved with the first generation of contactless payments and pleased to be part of a payment revolution that is making life easier and quicker for consumers. Subway is sold on the innovation, and we now want to educate our customers that contactless exists, how it works and where they can use it.”

Stuart Neal, Head of UK Payment Acceptance, Barclaycard, said, “We are working with our retailers to champion contactless, helping raise consumer awareness of a step change in payment technology. With so many consumers already able to pay without the need to enter their PIN and more retailers discovering the benefits of adopting contactless payment, educating customers this year is going to be key, as the technology becomes more commonplace.”

Both EAT. and Subway have been recipients of the coveted Contactless Intelligence Monkey Awards. EAT. won the High Throughput Food category in 2009 , with Subway winning the same category this year.