Aflac

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AFLAC Incorporated
Type of Company	Public (NYSE: AFL)
Founded	1955
Headquarters	Columbus, Georgia, USA
Key people	Daniel P. Amos, Chairman & CEO
Industry	Accident & Health Insurance
Products	Supplemental Health and Life Insurance
Revenue	$14.363 billion USD (2005)
Operating income	$2.249 billion USD (2005)
Net income	$1.483 billion USD (2005)
Employees	6,970 (2006)
Website	www.aflac.com

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL, TYO: 8686 ) is an American insurance company that acts as a management company; overseeing the operations of its subsidiaries by providing management services and making capital available. It derives most of its revenue from supplemental health and life insurance.

[edit] About AFLAC

AFLAC was founded by three brothers, John, Paul, and Bill Amos, in 1955 in Columbus, Georgia as the American Family Life Insurance Company (not to be confused with American Family Insurance). The company's corporate name was changed to American Family Life Assurance Company, then in 1990 the acronym AFLAC was formally adopted as the legal name. The official name on the firm's Web site, and for legally selling insurance, is the American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus.

Aflac has three realms of operations: New York State, the rest of the United States, and Japan (where the term "American Family" is still used in commercials).

At the end of 2005, the corporation's total assets were more than $56 billion. Aflac offers insurance coverage for accidents/disabilities, cancer, short-term disabilities, hospital intensive care, hospital confinement indemnity, long-term care, hospital confinement sickness indemnity, long-term care, specified health event, life, vision, and dental. In the United States, Aflac caters mainly to businesses (specifically business owners, for their employees), and the company's trademark is that these employee benefits and insurance policies come at no cost to the business owner whatsoever.

In 2005, the logo was changed to incorporate its famous duck, which features prominently in its advertising.

Aflac's old logo

[edit] Aflac Duck

The Aflac brand has developed wide recognition in recent times with commercials starring the famous Aflac duck (with Gilbert Gottfried providing the voice) on television which started airing in December of 1999. The duck concept, as well as all of the commercials to date, were created by The 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, art director Eric David stumbled upon the duck idea by walking around at lunchtime while uttering "Aflac, Aflac" and realizing how much it sounded like a duck's quack. The Aflac duck character has now starred in many different commercials, due in part to the company's raised assets in the years since his introduction.

The Aflac duck

Jon Stewart mocks Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack's name on The Daily Show.

The effect is created through a combination of footage of real ducks, CGI effects, and life-like puppets for close-ups. Most commercials feature the people discussing the short-term disability insurance that Aflac provides but with the people unable to remember the name of the company and the duck "quacking" the company name to jog their memory. The duck also has an explosive temper, which leads him to angered outbursts that invariably backfire on him. Misfortunes befalling the Aflac duck include falling into the Grand Canyon, getting hit by a train, sliding off a snowy rooftop and right onto a snowman, getting placed on an intense roller coaster, and having a car fall on him. It seems that there is only one person who ever sees the duck, a character played by Earl Billings. This character was in many of the earlier ads along with the duck. The character, however, has never spoken during the ads.

There have also been some celebrities to star in the ads, such as Chevy Chase, Yogi Berra, Donald Trump's wife Melania Trump, and the United States Olympic synchronized swimming team. (Berra's ad 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."

(Technically speaking, they were intentionally conceived as Yogiisms, and thus they aren't "true" yogiisms.)

Actor Ben Affleck has continually been harassed by fans and others because his name is so close to the duck. He mentioned it in a Tonight Show with Jay Leno episode either in 2000 or 2001 that ..."he would have drunk women approach him and yell out 'AFLAC!'." This was mentioned in VH1's 25 Greatest Commercials in 2003. AFLAC's advertising agent called him about Affleck advertising for AFLAC, and the actor left the agency a message that ... "you guys are killing me!"

The duck has even appeared in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, although instead of saying 'Aaaa-Flack!', it just says 'Aaaaa!' Aflac also did a commercial advertising both Aflac and "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." In the movie, the duck appears in the scene where the stove falls on the boat. The Aflac duck also appears in commercials in Japan, though with a slightly different voice quacking "Aflac!"

[edit] Awards

Aflac has been included in Fortune magazine's listing of America's Most Admired Companies for six consecutive years. In January 2006, Aflac was included in Fortune magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the eighth consecutive year. Aflac was also included in Fortune magazine's list of the Top 50 Employers for Minorities in August 2005, and in September 2005, Aflac Japan was named the Life Insurance Company of the Year at the Asia Insurance Industry Awards, sponsored by the Asia Insurance Review.

[edit] See also

• Sigma Nu LEADership learning program

[edit] External links

• Aflac