Dan Amos, who has led the supplemental-insurance provider since 1990, says board members were ‘a nervous wreck’ before its iconic campaign debuted
Dan Amos, Aflac Inc.’s chairman and chief executive officer, took a big risk in 2000 by launching a nationwide ad campaign mocking the insurer’s name. Yet the TV commercials, where a duck loudly quacks “Aflaaaac,” paid off.
The regionally known business soon became a household name. Aflac’s U.S. sales doubled between 1999 and 2003.
The long-running campaign is one reason Amos has run Aflac longer than any other Fortune 200 company leader except Warren Buffett.
“I like to manage risks [since] everything we do is risk related,” added Amos, who only wears ties decorated with ducks. If you avoid risks, “you are really not taking a broad enough perspective for a company to succeed,” he adds.
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