Aflac, Inc.: The Aflac Duck (2000) campaign
Guy CunninghamOVERVIEW
Aflac, Inc., was a major insurance company based in Columbus, Georgia. In 2000 its top product was its cancer-expense coverage, which the company had invented in 1958. Though profitable, Aflac suffered from poor brand recognition; only 12 percent of consumers remembered the company, in part because it had such an unusual name. In response, Aflac wanted to expand its business by improving consumer's awareness of the brand. It also wanted to target 35- to 54-year-old consumers.
In 1999 the company hired a new advertising agency, the Kaplan Thaler Group, to...