According to this New York Times article, the insurance company Aflac has fired Kaplan Thaler, the agency that created the successful duck campaign ten years ago. This well-known (albeit irritating as sandpaper undies) character has generated high levels of awareness for the Aflac brand, along with double-digit sales gains for the company’s products. Aflac’s recently appointed senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Jeff Charney stated, “We love the duck, and we love what Kaplan Thaler has done for us. Consumers really loved it, and our salespeople loved it.” Well Jeff, you’ve certainly made a strong case for firing the agency (and more than likely a bunch of Kaplan Thaler’s employees). What’s that you say Jeff? You want to “take [the duck] to the next level”? I guess there’s no point in allowing the agency that conceived the campaign and made you millions in the process, to “take it to the next level”. It’s not as if they earned that right…right? Wrong. Plain wrong.
