Lehman/A.M. Best Co. 2nd Annual Conference

Daniel P. Amos Chief Executive Officer AFLAC Inc

Aflac Sets Sights on Indemnity Dental Market

Aflac Inc., known for its quirky advertisements featuring a duck quacking about supplemental insurance, is setting its sights on the indemnity dental market.

Aflac launched the product last year, selling $24 million in premiums in five months, said Daniel P. Amos, chief executive officer, Aflac Inc. The company is now on target to sell $60 million for the full year 2001, which would launch it into the top six dental providers after only one year of doing business.

"If you asked me two years ago if we'd be able to sell dental insurance, I would have said no," Amos said at the second annual Insurance Conference, cosponsored by Lehman Bros. and A.M. Best Co., in New York on May 21. "We don't start at the top and say we're going to develop this product...agents and customers asked for it."

Group dental insurance is the best product available for employees, but it's not available for companies with less than 100 employees, Amos said.

Aflac's indemnity dental insurance product pays a flat rate for dental work, such as fillings and exams, he said.

The company, the largest foreign insurer in Japan, has posted increases in its operating earnings every year since 1996. Aflac has also been growing in the U.S. market, and Amos credited the company's success in part to its adverting campaign, which features a duck quacking "Aflac."

"We never dreamed it would be this successful," Amos said. Thanks to the duck, the company's name recognition in the United States has grown from 2% in 1990 to 80% today, and four of 10 people not only recognize the company's name, they can identify it as a supplemental insurer, Amos said.

"When you call on a person selling insurance, a wall goes up...great sales people can climb that wall. But people ask us about the Aflac duck constantly, and when they do, that wall falls down," Amos said.

Amos added the title of chairman early this month, as he replaced retiring Chairman Paul S. Amos. Paul Amos retired after 46 years with the company, which he founded in 1955 (BestWire, May 8, 2001).

(By Meg Green, senior associate editor, BestWeek: meg.green@ambest.com)