All About the AFLAC Duck

AFLAC is an acronym for American Family Life Assurance Co. Before 1999, AFLAC was a fairly obscure regional insurance company in Columbus, Georgia. AFLAC wasn't a newcomer to the field. It was founded in 1955 by brothers John, Paul and Bill Amos, and had only 6,436 policyholders. As of 2009, AFLAC has become a Fortune 500 international insurance company with more than 40 million policyholders. And it's the leading provider of guaranteed-renewable insurance in the United States and Japan.

The company can thank New York advertising agency Kaplan Thaler Group Ltd. and its AFLAC Duck television ad campaign for much of its phenomenal success.

All about Kaplan Thaler Group Ltd

In the early 70s, Linda Kaplan Thaler was a road show actor in the musical "Hair." After refusing to take her clothes off onstage, she left acting and got hired as a jingle writer at mega-advertising agency J. Walter Thompson. During her 20 years of working for Madison Avenue agencies, including Wells Rich Greene, Kaplan Thaler was responsible for many campaign successes. Among her earliest notable achievements was the "I want to be a Toys R Us kid" jingle.

In 1997 Kaplan Thaler launched her own agency with partner Robin Koval. Their first breakthrough successful ad campaign was for Clairol Herbal Essences. The campaign paid tribute to a scene in the movie "When Harry Met Sally" where actress Meg Ryan's character fakes an orgasm in a delicatessen. The TV ads showed "orgasmic" Herbal Essences shampoo users indulging in the shower.

All about the AFLAC Duck

In 1999 American Family Life Assurance Company executives hired the Kaplan Thaler Group to come up with a television ad campaign. To the creative team, it was a daunting task creating entertaining attention-grabbing commercials for a company specializing in supplementary health insurance that fills coverage gaps such as a loss of earnings due to a catastrophic illness or injury.

Creative team member Eric David kept repeating the company's acronym "AFLAC" aloud and realized that it sounded like a duck's quack. Copywriters put together a scenario where two people are sitting at a park bench discussing insurance options as the Duck chimes in the solution to their problems: "AFLAC!" To the Duck's increasing frustration, his suggestions are ignored or are unheard.

Much of the Duck's unique appeal comes from the casting of squawky-voiced standup comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who didn't expect much from the AFLAC job when he auditioned in 1999. In fact, he didn't even expect the commercial to air. In Japan, however, the AFLAC Duck's voice is done by another actor and its vocal persona is much less abrasive. Also, note that 70% of AFLAC's policyholders are in Japan.

As for the Duck itself, the current version is not a trained duck, but a realistic animatronic puppet created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The original AFLAC Duck, however, was created by Hollywood special effects master, the late Stan Winston.

According to AFLAC, the Duck campaign has brought improved brand recognition from 13% to 90%.