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Aflac

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Aflac Incorporated
Company typePublic
(NYSE: AFL)
(TYO: 8686)
Industrysupplemental insurance
Founded1955
FounderBill Amos
John Amos
Paul Amos
HeadquartersMidTown Columbus, Georgia
Area served
Japan
United States
Key people
Dan Amos
chairman, chief executive
Productssupplemental health
and life insurance
RevenueIncrease $18,254 million (2009)
Increase $2,235 million (2009)
Increase $1,497 million (2009)
Total assetsIncrease $84,106 million (2009)
Total equityIncrease $8,417 million (2009)
Number of employees
8,349 (2009)
ParentAflac Incorporated Edit this on Wikidata
Websiteaflac.com

Aflac Incorporated (pronounced /ˈæflæk/) is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States,[1] founded in 1955 and based in MidTown Columbus, Georgia. In the United States, Aflac underwrites a wide range of insurance policies, but is perhaps best known for its payroll deduction insurance coverage, which pay cash benefits when a policyholder has a covered accident or illness. In Japan, the company is the second largest insurer overall and the largest life insurer,[2] and is also well known for its supplemental medical policies. Aflac currently is the number one Supplemental Health provider in the U.S. followed closely by Allstate Workplace Division. Aflac employs many people in Columbus and its other locations. Aflac has one of the largest field forces with over 7,500 agents in the U.S. In 2009 Aflac acquired Continental American Insurance Company to expand its coverage beyond voluntary benefits alone.

History

The company was founded by three brothers, John Amos, Paul Amos, and Bill Amos, in Midtown Columbus, Georgia, in 1955 as American Family Life Insurance Company of Columbus. In 1964, the company name was changed to American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus. The company, in 1990, adopted the Aflac initialism, although the official name of the underwriting subsidiary remains American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus.

The company signed 6,426 policyholders in its first year.[3] Aflac pioneered cancer insurance in 1958. Beginning in 1964, the company decided to focus sales on worksite settings, eventually through policies sponsored by employers and funded through payroll deductions. By 2003, more than 98% of Aflac policies in the United States were issued on a payroll deduction basis, making the company a leader in that approach to policy distribution. In 1973, Aflac established a holding company, the American Family Corporation.

Businesses

Aflac operates in the United States and Japan, and has its worldwide headquarters and corporate offices in an eighteen story tower just east of Downtown Columbus, Georgia and is the tallest building in the city. At the end of 2009, the corporation's total assets were more than $84 billion, and the company insured more than 60 million people worldwide. Aflac is the largest provider of guaranteed-renewable insurance in the United States and the largest insurance company overall in Japan, when measured by individual insurance policies in force. Aflac launched a campaign in 2001 to promote their first accident policy in Japan, which The Wall Street Journal rated as one of the "ten most effective campaigns of 2000."

The company now offers several types of insurance policies in the United States, including the following:

  • Accident
  • Cancer/Specified Disease
  • Dental
  • Hospital Confinement Indemnity
  • Hospital Confinement Sickness Indemnity
  • Hospital Intensive Care
  • Life
  • Lump Sum Cancer
  • Lump Sum Cancer Critical Illness
  • Specified Health Event
  • Short Term Disability
  • Vision

Aflac also offers unreimbursed medical, dependent day care, and transportation flexible spending accounts. The company also offers human resources services for HIPAA and COBRA administration.

From 1979 to 1997, the company owned several television stations, most of them in small and medium markets. It sold the broadcasting division to what became Raycom Media in 1997.

Aflac Duck

Since 2000, the company's identity has become more widely recognized as the result of commercials featuring the Aflac Duck, who frustratedly quacks the company's name to unsuspecting prospective policyholders. The Aflac brand has developed wide recognition recently with commercials starring the famous Aflac Duck on television which started airing in December 1999. The duck concept and all of the commercials to date have been created by Kaplan Thaler Group, an advertising agency based in New York City. Struggling to come up with a concept to make the big but relatively obscure insurance company's name memorable, one of the agency's art directors stumbled upon the duck idea while walking around Central Park at lunchtime uttering, "Aflac, Aflac." He soon realized how much the company's name sounded like a duck's quack. The Aflac Duck character has now starred in more than 30 commercials. The Aflac Duck is enshrined on Madison Avenue's Walk of Fame as one of America’s Favorite Advertising Icons.[4]

In April 2009, Aflac introduced a new marketing campaign called “Get the Aflacts,” designed to educate consumers about the specific benefits of the insurance products the company sells. The Aflacts campaign gave the Aflac Duck "a more prominent role," designed to "help potential customers learn the Aflacts, er, facts about policies and other products," according to The New York Times [5].

The Aflac duck is portrayed through a combination of footage of real ducks, CGI effects, and lifelike puppets for close-ups. Most of the commercials feature humans discussing the insurance that Aflac provides, although they are unable to remember the name of the company. The duck quacks the Aflac name, trying to jog their memory. The duck also has a temper, which leads it to angered outbursts that invariably backfire. Misfortunes befalling the Aflac Duck include falling into the Grand Canyon, getting hit by a train, sliding off a snowy rooftop and onto a snowman, getting placed on an intense roller coaster, flying out of a snowboarding halfpipe, and being hit by a falling automobile. In many commercials, it seems that there is only one person who actually notices the duck, a character played by Earl Billings. This character was in many of the earlier ads with the duck. The character, however, has never spoken during the ads and seems to be unnerved by the presence of the duck.

Celebrities have also starred in the Aflac ads, including Chevy Chase (2003), Yogi Berra, Yao Ming, Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards (2008-), United States Olympic synchronized swimming team (2004), and Wayne Newton playing at Stardust Hotel and Casino in 2003 commercial. Berra's first ad, "Berra at the Barber," takes place in a barber shop and features three new Yogiisms:

"It's the one you really need to have. If you don't have it, that's why you need it."
"If you get hurt and miss work, it won't hurt to miss work."
"They give you cash, which is just as good as money."

Aflac released a new commercial starring Carl Edwards in February 2010 challenging Americans to “know quack.” To build on the overwhelming popularity of the “know quack” campaign Aflac issued the 10 second challenge in March 2010 offering $25,000 cash to the best 10 second commercial describing what Aflac does.

Since 2001, the Aflac Duck also appears in commercials in Japan[6] though with a slightly different voice quacking "Aflac!" The personality of the Japanese Aflac Duck is less grumpy than in the U.S. commercials. The duck also smiles in some of the Japanese ads, sings along to songs and happily stamps its feet in time to music. The Aflac Duck appears in Japanese commercials as a reassuring character. The company's most recent commercials for the U.S. and Japan can be seen on the company's Web site.[7]

Aflac sells plush Aflac Duck dolls, and the proceeds benefit the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, which is recognized as one of the largest childhood cancer treatment and research centers in the United States by Child magazine. The sales began after the popularity of the commercials began to generate requests from the public asking where they could purchase "the duck"[8]. The sales are made through the company's Web site and through retailers such as Macy's department stores. Since 2001, sales of the Aflac duck have raised more than $2 million to benefit the center[9].

In a 2002 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, actor Ben Affleck stated he has been driven crazy with the Aflac Duck with drunk women coming up to him yelling "Aflac!" Affleck has also been approached by the advertising company to do television ads for them, but Affleck replied to them "You guys are killing me".

In 2005, the company logo was changed to incorporate the duck.

In 2009, the Aflac Duck launched Facebook[10] and Twitter[11] pages.

The duck is voiced by Gilbert Gottfried[12].

Corporate Philanthropy & Social Responsibility

Through a partnership with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Aflac has contributed over $55 million to childhood cancer research and treatment.[13]

Aflac employees are formally involved in an array of charitable organizations such as Habitat for Humanity International, the Easter Seals, and the United Way.[14]

Aflac's efforts to minimize its environmental impact have included a partnership with the Clean Air Campaign to encourage its employees to engage in alternate commuting methods with greater frequency.[15]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=AFL%3AUS&sid=aAKpYxJb6IRU
  2. ^ http://www.aflac.com/us/en/aboutaflac/PressReleaseStory.aspx?rid=762194
  3. ^ Aflac History From Aflac.com
  4. ^ http://www.aflac.com/us/en/aboutaflac/aflacfacts.aspx
  5. ^ "Not Daffy or Donald, but Still Aflac's Rising Star" from The New York Times
  6. ^ Principles of Advertising: A Global Perspective by Monle Lee, Carla Johnson Page 166 Haworth Press, 2005 ISBN 0-7890-2300-8
  7. ^ Aflac commercials From Aflac.com
  8. ^ The Best of Branding: Best Practices in Corporate Branding by James R. Gregory Page 139 McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003 ISBN 0-07-140329-9
  9. ^ History - The Aflac Cancer Center from Aflac.com
  10. ^ - Aflac Duck on Facebook
  11. ^ - Aflac Duck on Twitter
  12. ^ "Official Gilbert Gottfried Website - Blog," see posts October 24, 2005 and February 6, 2006
  13. ^ "Fighting Pediatric Cancer". American Family Life Assurance Corporation. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  14. ^ "Community Involvement". American Family Life Assurance Corporation. Retrieved March 9, 2010.
  15. ^ "Aflac: Saving money and the environment". The Clean Air Campaign. Retrieved March 9, 2010.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Aflac.
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