Deck delivered at the IMCA Creative Forum 2011 describing how Aflac's Brand and Corporate principles have translated to Social Media

1. The Power of
Authenticity
James P. Wisdom

2. Waypoints
1. Context: A reason to care
2. Aflac Social Customer Service:
Authenticity in action
3. The Aflac Duck: Defining an authentic
mascot
4. The Aflac Cancer Center Causes
Campaign: Case Study

3. “What We’re Trying to
Deal With”
“The Old Days” “What We Know”

4. • People will be less likely to tell the
world that you stink if they know
you and believe that you will at
least try.
• People are less inclined to abuse
those that they know.
• Every unhappy customer is an
opportunity.

5. KNOW THYSELF

6. BE THYSELF
Processes Policies People
Personas Behaviors

7. AUTHENTICITY IN ACTION
Question/issue/comment posted on social
networking site
AflacPhyllis determines need for correct
answer/resolution
Question/issue presented to operations
SME who determines answer/resolution
Aflac operations executive management sends
go/no go response
AflacPhyllis posts response to social
network
Social media response process typically
takes less than 12 hours for Monday
through Friday posts.

8. AVIAN AUTHENTICITY

9. AVIAN AUTHENTICITY

10. AVIAN AUTHENTICITY
Processes Policies People Personas Behaviors

11. Case Study:
The Aflac Duck and the Aflac Cancer Center:
Color Carl’s Car Campaign

12. Serendipity & Reality

13. Campaign Lead-Up & Surprises

14. Tactics: Integrating the Message
+ =
Leveraging Reaching
Sponsorships P.R. Campaign
Ultimate Goals

15. Launch
On September 8th, two days after the Color Carl’s Car PR event
 26,039 were joining each day or 16 per minute.

16. Momentum

17. Results
• Finished 10/6 with 851,215 new members and a total donation pool
of more than $1.16M, claiming the title of Causes' "top fundraising
Cause".
• Color Carl’s Car received placements on ESPN, CBS Evening News,
CNN and NASCAR.com, and more, generating more than 114 million
impressions
• The Duck also enjoyed a spike in popularity during the campaign –
a tenfold increase in daily Fan growth on Facebook over the prior
month.
“Aflac is the first to understand how to fully maximize Causes. Most clients
put it out there and hope – you guys had a fully integrated campaign across
channels with a strong grassroots element. I didn’t believe you’d make it,
but I gladly stand corrected.” – Causes Exchange