Giving flight to an authentic purpose: How Aflac transformed its mascot into an icon for childhood cancer patients

Carol Cone and Kristin Kenney
Additional contact information
Carol Cone: Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, USA
Kristin Kenney: Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, USA

Journal of Brand Strategy, 2021, vol. 10, issue 2, 138-147

Abstract: My Special Aflac Duck is an award-winning social robot for children with cancers. Modelled after Aflac Incorporated’s iconic duck mascot, My Special Aflac Duck was developed by social impact agency Carol Cone ON PURPOSE and R&D shop Sproutel to meet the social-emotional needs of paediatric cancer patients during their average 1,000 days of treatment. The initiative, which is part of the broader Aflac Childhood Cancer Campaign, was created to support Aflac’s reputational and brand goals, building on more than two decades of commitment to paediatric cancer research and treatment. Additionally, Aflac sought to make a direct patient impact through technology and innovation, moving beyond traditional corporate citizenship to align purpose, values, brand and product in a never-before-seen execution. Readers will learn how Carol Cone ON PURPOSE developed crisp criteria around Aflac’s objectives, partnered with Sproutel to develop the duck based on the specific needs of children, launched the initiative to media in an unexpected way, supported roll-out in hospitals across the United States and helped Aflac achieve significant brand and business lifts.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; corporate reputation; purpose; authenticity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hstalks.com/article/6626/download/ (application/pdf)
https://hstalks.com/article/6626/ (text/html)
Requires a paid subscription for full access.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:jbs000:y:2021:v:10:i:2:p:138-147

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Brand Strategy from Henry Stewart Publications
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Henry Stewart Talks ().