Aflac

Aflac is a company that offers individuals and companies supplemental disability insurance. Aflac is a financial services company that offers supplemental and renewable insurance solutions to individuals and businesses in the United States. The company offers a range of insurance products to individuals and families, employers, brokers, and agents. Its product portfolio includes accident, cancer, critical illness, life, hospital, short-term disability, dental, and vision insurance policies. It also offers many services to employers, including cafeteria plans, policyholder change plans, COBRA administration, commuter spending accounts, HSA and HRA incentives, and enrollment solutions. Aflac was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia.

1955: The oldest brother, John Amos, formed the insurance company in 1955.

1958: 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. Aflac pioneered cancer insurance in 1958. Over 98% of its policies in the US were on payroll deductions as at the year 2003. It was the first company to provide insurance cover for cancer in 1958.

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

1964: 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. Aflac started to offer policies on payroll deduction in 1964. In 1964 it began making presentations to groups rather than to individuals and developed the 'cluster-selling' technique, which was very successful. Beginning in 1964, the company decided to focus sales on worksite settings, eventually through policies sponsored by employers and funded through payroll deductions.

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

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

1974: In June 1974, American Family's shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The American Family Corporation is a holding company for Aflac and it was established in 1974.

1975: 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.

1979: 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. In 1979 two CBS affiliates were acquired, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and in Savannah, Georgia.

1980: 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.

1981: In 1981, the group sold WYEA-TV to remain flexible within FCC regulations at a gain of about $1 million. In 1981 cancer became the leading cause of death in Japan, and while cancer insurance was criticized in the United States, it was welcomed by the Japanese, whose general health insurance picture was very different.

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

1984: In 1984, the Howard Printing Company was purchased for 56,952 shares and merged into Communicorp. Supplemental senility policies were introduced in Japan in 1984, providing coverage for Alzheimer's disease and three other forms of senility.

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

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

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

1988: Cancer insurance was widely accepted, and AFLAC Japan controlled 88 percent of the market by 1988. In 1988 two new lines were introduced: accident insurance and advance life insurance, which allowed a policyholder to receive 25 percent of death benefits upon diagnosis of heart attack, internal cancer, or stroke, leaving 75 percent for beneficiaries.

1990: Amos died in 1990 and was succeeded as chairman by his brother, Paul Amos. 1990: Super Cancer policy is launched in Japan. In 1990, the company adopted the Aflac acronym, although the official name of the underwriting subsidiary remains American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus.

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

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

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

1996: In October 1996, the company reached an agreement with Fox Sports to run ads during the baseball playoffs and World Series. The single most significant development for AFLAC was the completion of a far-reaching new trade agreement between the United States and Japan in December 1996.

1997: 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.

1998: 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. The Man from Enterprise: The Story of John B. Amos, Founder of AFLAC. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1998.

1999: In 1999, the company hired a new advertising agency, the Kaplan Thaler Group, to improve its name recognition. By decade's end the company controlled more than $37 billion in assets, and total sales for 1999 topped $8.6 billion.

2000: According to Forbes, it is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world. In an effort to make a major push to turn around its poor brand recognition among consumers, the company hired ad agency Kaplan Thaler Group (KTG) to devise a new campaign in 2000. Another new spot featured an on-screen appearance from Gilbert Gottfried, the comedian who had provided the Duck's voice since the character's initial appearance in the 2000 "Park Bench" spot.

2001: 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. In 2001 it was named the fifth most admired company in the health and life insurance industry by Fortune. Perhaps more important for AFLAC, the deal also provided protection to companies that were already firmly established in so-called 'niche' markets, effectively making the cancer insurance sector off-limits to Japanese firms until 2001.

2002: Elliott, Stuart. "Why a Duck? Because It Sells Insurance." New York Times, June 24, 2002. Kaplan Thaler Puts Consumers Ahead of Peer Approval." New York Times, June 24, 2002.

2003: Sperber, Bob. "Linda Kaplan Thaler On the Spot." Adweek, April 21, 2003. Witkoski, Michael. "The Bottle that Isn't There and the Duck that Can't Be Heard: The 'Subjective Correlative' in Commercial Messages." Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education 3, issue 3 (August 2003). 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.

2004: The Duck became a cultural icon and continued as the company's advertising focal point through 2004. The company generated $13.3 billion in revenue in 2004.

2005: 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.

2007: 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.

2008: 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.

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

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

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

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

2018: 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.

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

2022: Postpone cancelations and non-renewals from Friday, May 13, 2022, through Monday, Oct. 31, 2022.Offer a payment plan of at least six (6) months if unable to pay the delinquency after the extended grace period.

According to Aflac, the company mission is: "to combine aggressive strategic marketing with quality products and services at competitive prices to provide the best insurance value for consumers. The statement emphasizes on the impact its products have on the customers."

As stated in company website, Aflac vision is:" to create vision plan so individuals and their families can be more proactive about caring for their vision."