AFLAC:  Yes, our name quacks

New: The duck-based logo (and lower-cased name)

Launched: December 2, 2004

Story in brief:
It was founded in 1955 as American Family Life Insurance (changed, some time later, to Assurance) Company.  In 1990, because some 200 other insurance companies used "American Family" in their names and because "American" had become a mixed blessing for (yes) the largest life insurer in Japan but most importantly because names longer than five syllables will always be somehow shortened in actual use, it was decided to feature the communicative name insiders were of course already using: "AFLAC."  So the logo with the little blue  family appeared.

It soon became apparent that to outsiders, as a name AFLAC is odd-sounding and awkward, which made it hard to build awareness, not to say respect. So: change it? or tough it out?

AFLAC sweated this for ten years. Then in 2000, ad agency Kaplan Thaler said "we can make it work, " and developed outrageously funny commercials in which an intrusive white duck answers "AFLAC" to the question "What was that insurance...?" In three years brand awareness grew from 12% to 90%. "We hit a home run," says Aflac's advertising/ branding VP Al Johnson.

But by 2004, sales gains were slowing. Having secured awareness, it was time to move toward information and persuasion; a brand renewal would provide a helpful trigger event. FutureBrand designed an appropriately intrusive duck, whose presence curiously enables Aflac advertising to move on now to the more sales-driven campaign idea, "Now Matters." (In text, as in the logo, AFLAC changes to Aflac, to help secure its acceptance as a name rather than an acronym.) 

Credits:
CEO - Dan Amos
Identity counsel & design - FutureBrand

First Impressions:
The old logo was an embarrassment, essentially undesigned, speaking poorly of Aflac quality and degrading materials it appeared on. But its little blue family did convey a sense of AFLAC's corporate purpose.

The new mark is a pronounced improvement, with or without the duck (which must however seem quite odd, in countries that don't see Aflac advertising).  It's friendlier, and simply better-designed, even though the duck butts into the wordmark and interferes with its legibility. 

Everyone loves those commercials;  my own favorite is the ongoing character privileged to notice the talking duck, and giving us his double-take.

But pause, and consider. The duck was created to make the best of a bad name. The duck said "We know, it sounds like 'quack,' but just call us AFLAC anyway (and don't worry about what it means)." One wonders; did anyone think about a name change? (See Assurant for an example of an opportunity-enhancing name change.) It might have enabled  advertising with greater focus on product benefits than on its own cleverness. On the other hand... we would have missed out on those great commercials.

Net result -- a new logo predicated on an advertising campaign. Since brand identities usually outlast advertising campaigns, this is worrisome. In due course the duck may lose both relevance and impact and can then fade away (or be replaced), leaving a perfectly serviceable wordmark. But for now at least, it works.  I will admit that sometimes, advertising trumps identity.

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