Aflac history

Developed in 1958, this insurance worked as a supplement to a patient's primary health coverage, picking up the costs of deductibles on doctor's visits, hospital stays, and drug therapies.

By the end of 1959, AFLAC was writing $900,000 in premiums and had begun to operate in Florida.

The name of the company was the American Family Life Insurance Company of Columbus before it changed the name in 1964 to become the American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus.

Cluster-selling boosted the company's premiums to $7 million by 1967.

When Chairman John Amos visited Japan in 1970, he was convinced that it would be an excellent market for his cancer care policies.

In June 1974, American Family's shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

A longtime stand-up comic, Gottfried first rose to prominence in 1975 when he appeared on the NBC variety show Saturday Night Live.

1978: AFLAC acquires WYEA-TV in Columbus, Georgia.

In 1979 AFLAC sued American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for alleged damages that resulted from a segment on insurance fraud on the network's 'World News Tonight' program.

A Senate aide described the scene to Barron's (July 28, 1980): 'Amos sat with an attorney on each side of him and four corporate vice-presidents behind.

In 1981 the group sold WYEA-TV to remain flexible within FCC regulations at a gain of about $1 million.

In 1982 the cable franchises acquired in the Black Hawk Broadcasting deal were sold to CBS for a profit.

In 1984 the Howard Printing Company was purchased for 56,952 shares and merged into Communicorp.

In 1985 a universal life insurance policy was introduced, followed by a Medicare supplemental policy a year later.

By 1986 AFLAC Japan's policies increased to 5.4 million, compared with 731,000 a decade earlier.

By 1987 the Japanese market accounted for two-thirds of AFLAC's total revenues and 70 percent of after-tax earnings.

Cancer insurance was widely accepted, and AFLAC Japan controlled 88 percent of the market by 1988.

Amos died in 1990 and was succeeded as chairman by his brother, Paul Amos.

Meanwhile, AFLAC's market share for supplemental cancer policies in Japan continued to creep up steadily, reaching 94 percent in 1992.

Preliminary figures for 1993 showed another big gain in company revenue, as much as 25 percent from the previous year.

The company's relationship with the institution dated to 1995, when it funded construction of the cancer unit.

In October 1996 the company reached an agreement with Fox Sports to run ads during the baseball playoffs and World Series.

The steady decline of the yen throughout the decade ultimately took a bite out of AFLAC's share value, and in 1997 the company saw its new sales rate in Japan drop 20 percent.

The company's ability to exceed analysts' expectations, while other United States companies doing business in Asia were floundering, caused its stock to begin rising again in early 1998; by December, the company's share value had increased 75 percent for the year.

In 1999 the company hired a new advertising agency, the Kaplan Thaler Group, to improve its name recognition.

According to Forbes, it is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world.

As the campaign took off, the company's advertising spread into prime-time programming across the three major networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS. In July 2001 the Duck made his premiere in Japan, where it was just as successful.

Elliott, Stuart. "Why a Duck? Because It Sells Insurance." New York Times, June 24, 2002.

Sperber, Bob. "Linda Kaplan Thaler On the Spot." Adweek, April 21, 2003.

The Duck became a cultural icon and continued as the company's advertising focal point through 2004.

As a stand-up comedian he was often known for his bawdy humor, which was perhaps most evident in his performance of an old vaudeville joke shown in the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats.

Aflac named to Ethisphere’s list of World’s Most Ethical Companies for 15th consecutive year, making Aflac the only insurance company in the world to appear on this list every year since its inception in 2007.

Companies should embrace the act of compensating their employees well to remain competitive. It is the responsibility of the HR managers to keep their companies in the competition through attractive compensation packages (McGregor, 2008). Aflac has developed a way of using its products and services to enhance employees’ compensation.

Reed, S. M. (2009). Benefits and business at Aflac and L.L. Bean.

Hiebing, R. G., Cooper, S. W., & Wehrenberg, S. (2012). The successful marketing plan: How to create dynamic, results-oriented marketing.

Aflac announced the appointment of Frederick J. Crawford as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President in June 2015.

In November 2017, Aflac Cut the Ribbon for Empowered Benefits, a benefits administration and enrollment software company owned by Aflac Inc.

My Special Aflac Duck, a social robot designed to help children cope with cancer, was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2018 and was awarded the Best in Show Award as well as the Tech for Good award.

In October 2019, Aflac opened an office in Northern Ireland.