With Latest Integrated Campaign, Aflac CMO Michael Zuna Lets Social Media Do Some Heavy Lifting

Aflac launched its largest, most integrated brand campaign yet during the recent Grammys telecast, going broad with what CMO Michael Zuna believes is a killer insight: Consumers demand speed, and will settle for nothing less that instant gratification—even when it comes to insurance claims processing.

The campaign from the supplemental insurance provider introduces “One Day Pay,” an initiative that enables the company to receive, process, approve and disburse payment to policyholders for eligible claims within one business day. The fast turnaround acknowledges that 81% of Facebook and Twitter users expect a same-day response from companies to questions and complaints, according to Oracle. It also acknowledges the expectations of a younger generation, Millennials, that they deal with brands that are authentic, open, transparent—and fast, Zuna said.

It’s a departure from other insurance marketers, which largely focus on price as a differentiator (think “15 minutes could save you 15%”).

It’s also a big departure for Zuna, who two years ago told me in an interview at the Forbes CMO Summit that while he recognized the need to be "aggressive" in terms of investing in social media, he remained somewhat skeptical of the ROI from Twitter as a marketing tool; it just hadn’t yet proven itself, and he said at the time that he didn't blindly chase the latest shiny object without data to support investment. Two years later, with a campaign that employs Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, special programming, events and, yes, TV, he’s clearly singing a different tune. There’s more precision now, more data around social that makes him “feel more comfortable,” Zuna said, adding, “I wish I could go faster.”

The Aflac Duck will be prominently featured in all aspects of the campaign—including the new TV spot that aired during the Grammys, “Eureka! One Day Pay”—developed by a team of agencies including Big Fuel, Career Sports + Entertainment, Conill Advertising, Firstborn , Hill+Knowlton Strategies, MediaVest, and Publicis Kaplan Thaler. In a novel manipulation of media and representation of the “speed” theme, Aflac skipped entire commercial breaks during the Grammys E! Live from the Red Carpet pre-show to bring viewers right back to the programming without having to wait.

The new campaign is also a manifestation of something CMOs have been talking about for some time now: the true collaboration between the marketing organization, operations and IT. “I had to work closely with IT,” Zuna said of the omnichannel campaign that put “the customer at the center” and was a 14-month effort.

The campaign was a highly collaborative effort, Zuna said, and given the back-end systems that needed to live up to the brand promise of faster claims processing, marketing worked very closely with the administrative team throughout the planning process. Specifically he coordinated with Laree Daniel, Aflac’s senior VP, administrative operations and chief administrative officer. But it was a marketing-led initiative.

“This wasn’t just about TV,” he said. “It was about creating content, about creating the most compelling message for the vehicle.”

Watch the latest TV spot here.