Immediately following the devastating earthquake and tsunami, Aflac CEO and Chairman Dan Amos visited Japan (home to 75% of the company’s business) and pledged 100 million yen to assist with relief efforts. In the midst of this human tragedy, we were also faced with a marketing disaster: comedian Gilbert Gottfried, the voice of our beloved Duck, issued distasteful remarks about the crisis, and we subsequently severed our ties with him.

The Duck had lost its voice - the crucial quack that had propelled the brand from 10% to 90% household awareness. But we saw opportunity in this challenge, quickly launching a nationwide, integrated job search for the Duck’s new voice. Turning what CNN calls a "gaffe into a gift," the crisis communications effort leveraged the search’s different phases, notably the launch, auditions and final announcement through an aggressive press and key influencer campaign.

Assembled in less than 48 hours, the campaign ran as planned and included the creation of a new microsite, casting calls, a new commercial, YouTube videos and significant press and key influencer outreach. On March 24th, a press release announced the search for the Duck’s new voice. We encouraged people to either attend a casting call in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, Austin and Atlanta, or apply online at Quackaflac.com. The search was publicised via Monster.com. The commercial, “Silent Movie,” led viewers to the Duck’s Facebook page for more information. Another release was issued reminding people of the April 1st online deadline. We invited media to attend and audition. On April 26th, we announced that the Duck had its quack back with Dan McKeague. Our outreach included all verticals and mediums, ranging from traditional news wires to late night talk shows and from national to local media.

The effort’s success surpassed even our expectations. The search generated sustained, extremely positive press coverage for almost two months with over 70,000 media stories, over 900 million media impressions and over $39 million in earned media to date. Americans loved the idea of the search, with a total of 12,371 officially applying for the job online and through live auditions with thousands more informally sharing their "Aflac!" in social media. We gained significant traction on the Duck’s Twitter and Facebook profiles with a 14.5% increase in followers. Traffic to Aflac.com has increased 20%. The Duck now has his voice back, and is quacking in a new TV commercial. Coming out of this effort, the Aflac brand is positioned stronger than ever, and the company posted an increase in sales for the first time in over nine quarters.