Aflac Partners with Affleck in Marketing Campaign

Aflac and Affleck. 

Two incredibly similar-sounding names and, for years, two names that have long been blurred together. 

“62 years ago my company changed its name from AFLIC to AFLAC,” says Garth Knutson, Chief Marketing Officer at Aflac. “54 years ago Ben Affleck was born. For 26 years people have connected our two funny sounding names.”

Today, these two names are being connected in a partnership developed between Aflac and Artists Equity – a studio founded by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gerry Cardinale – bringing Ben Affleck and the company’s iconic Aflac duck together on-screen. 

“Americans have been making the connection between Aflac and Affleck for years. Some ideas require a leap of imagination. This one was sitting right in front of us,” says Garth. 

“We think consumers are going to love it, but more importantly, we hope it inspires millions of Americans to take a fresh look at Aflac and the ways we can help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover.”

Building on recognition, trust and cultural relevance

The campaign was first teased in late August 2026 through graffiti-tagged billboards across Los Angeles marked by Ben Affleck himself. 

This will be, Aflac has said, a full 360-brand campaign, which will feature Ben Affleck and the Aflac Duck in a series of advertisements designed to be both entertaining and educational – with Aflac hoping the campaign will help it reach a wider audience and help consumers better understand its product offering.

“Green Room”, the first advertising spot, finds Ben Affleck backstage before a shoot, where the Aflac duck and longtime partners of the company give him a crash course on what the company does. 

“Few brands have the recognition, trust and cultural relevance to create a partnership like this,” says Virgil Miller, President of Aflac. “That's the power of the Aflac brand. 

“Bringing together Aflac, Ben Affleck and Artists Equity creates an opportunity to reach consumers in a memorable way while reinforcing who we are as a company and the value we provide every day. It's a bold collaboration that elevates the strength, relevance and momentum of our brand.”

Earning audience’s attention

While the campaign was inspired by consumers linking the Aflac and Affleck names for years, Aflac says it hopes to use the campaign as an entertaining way to spotlight a more serious topic: the financial challenges that accompany a health event, and how Aflac specifically can help provide extra financial protection. 

But in order to ensure this campaign would reach the maximum audience possible, both Aflac and Artists Equity have said they took the care to make the advertisement as entertaining for consumers as possible.

“Audiences have long decided that most advertising is built to be skipped, so we make advertising the way a studio makes a film: Attention has to be earned, which means we need to entertain,” says Josh Jefferis, Co-President of Advertising at Artists Equity. 

“Aflac already has one of the most recognisable brand icons ever created. Our job was to build a story worthy of the Aflac Duck, one with a co-star who could keep up with the iconic quack. The Aflac team has been incredible to work with, and this is just the beginning.”

Who are Aflac’s key partners? 

• Workday: Aflac was named a strategic Workday Wellness partner for supplemental health solutions in January 2026. Through this engagement, Aflac can integrate its supplemental health products and services with Workday Wellness, empowering employers with AI-driven recommendations to improve benefit offerings and streamline their benefits administration.
• Nayya: In 2024, Aflac announced a partnership with Nayya to improve how employees access their supplemental health benefits. Nayya powered supplemental health claims integration to select employers within Aflac's industry-leading group benefits business, to improve the claims experience. 
• Ethos: Ethos partners with Aflac to expand access to Aflac's supplemental insurance policies through Ethos's digital distribution platform. The collaboration launches with Aflac's cancer insurance, now available alongside Ethos's life insurance offerings, expanding the range of protection options available through Ethos's digital platform.
• SKYGEN: Aflac’s dental and vision division partnered with SKYGEN to help improve the customer satisfaction journey. SKYGEN is a US-based premier technology partner with a focus on dental and vision insurance plans that serves nearly 50 million members across all 50 states.