How FMCG brands are wasting money on printed scratch cards — and what to do instead

The printed scratch card is one of the most persistent promotional mechanics in African FMCG — and one of the least efficient. Here's the full true-cost accounting of a typical Nigerian or Ghanaian scratch card promotion, why the fraud rate is worse than most brand managers know, and the digital comparison that makes the switch obvious.

Walk through any major Nigerian or Ghanaian market and you'll find scratch card promotions running for recognisable FMCG brands — beverage companies, dairy brands, noodle manufacturers, personal care companies. The mechanic has been part of the West African promotional toolkit since the 1990s. It has name recognition. Consumers understand it. Trade partners are comfortable executing it.

It is also expensive, fraud-prone, untrackable, and entirely replaceable by a digital alternative that costs less and produces more measurable outcomes. The brands still running printed scratch card promotions are doing so largely because the switching effort hasn't been prioritised — not because the economics support continuation.

Here's the true cost breakdown that makes the case for switching.

The true cost of a printed scratch card promotion

Most brand managers evaluate scratch card promotions against a budget that includes print costs and prize value. The true cost includes five additional items that typically aren't accounted for:

• —Purchase or steal legitimate cards and reproduce them at scale with winning codes
• —Recruit insiders at printing facilities to obtain unscratched winning cards before distribution
• —Submit claims for prizes using codes from other promotions that have similar formats
• —Use winning codes multiple times by photographing before scratching fully

Industry estimates for counterfeit fraud losses on Nigerian scratch card promotions range from 8–15% of total prize budget. A promotion with a ₦10M prize pool is losing ₦800K–₦1.5M to fraud before accounting for legitimate redemptions. Many brand managers don't know their fraud rate because they have no reliable way to measure it.

The full-cost comparison

For a mid-size Nigerian FMCG brand running a 300,000-card scratch card promotion:

A printed scratch card promotion loses 30–45% of its budget before the first consumer scratches a card — to waste, fraud, and unscratcheds. Digital promotions start from zero waste.

Why brands still run printed promotions

The economic case for digital is clear. The organisational inertia against switching is real. Understanding why helps with the internal change management argument.

The most common reasons brands continue with printed scratch cards despite better economics for digital:

• —Agency relationships — the agency that runs the promotion is incentivised to continue the model that generates their production and fulfilment margin
• —Procurement familiarity — buying a print run is a known process; evaluating a digital platform is unfamiliar
• —Trade channel comfort — distributors and retailers know how to handle physical cards; USSD-based promotions require education
• —Consumer awareness assumptions — incorrect belief that rural or low-income consumers won't engage with USSD mechanics

The consumer awareness assumption is the most consequential misconception. Nigerian and Ghanaian consumers in informal markets are highly comfortable with USSD — they use it for banking, airtime, and bill payment daily. The first USSD promotional campaign a consumer participates in requires brief education (the code is on the pack, dial this number, enter the code). After that first experience, participation rates in subsequent USSD promotions are comparable to or better than scratch card participation.