4-21. AFLAC is a rarity among U.S. companies inasmuch as the Japanese market accounts for more than 75 percent of its business. Does this reliance on the Japanese market create any special challenges for AFLAC? Does it present any unique opportunities for the company? Fifteen years ago, most Americans had never heard of AFLAC, a $26-billion insurance company based in Columbus, Georgia. Thanks to AFLAC’s mascot, this is no longer the case. The company’s attention-grabbing advertising campaign, which began in 2000, features a helpful but frustrated duck that fails to get people to acknowledge his presence or the company’s name. Nonetheless, the duck’s efforts appear to be paying off. According to advertising surveys, 94 percent of Americans are now aware of the AFLAC brand; more importantly, policies in force have risen more than 50 percent and annual premiums have more than doubled since the duck commercials began in the United States. And the AFLAC duck has done more than simply increase the company’s American sales. AFLAC now sells the duck on its website and donates the proceeds to a children’s cancer center in Atlanta. During the Christmas season, AFLAC teams up with a major department store chain to sell special-edition AFLAC holiday ducks. To date,

$3 million has been donated to 40 children’s hospitals around the country from their sale.