Since GA-based Aflac began sponsoring the trivia
question during Braves telecasts on WTBS in '91, the concept
has expanded to include other pro baseball teams and sports
such as the NFL, NASCAR and college basketball, according to
Greg Groeller of the Columbus (GA) LEDGER-ENQUIRER. The
idea behind the Aflac Trivia Question was to increase
Aflac's name recognition in the U.S., "which lagged behind
Japan, the company's major market," and Groeller writes that
the ad "blitz is working." According to a recent poll,
conducted by GA-based Ken Hollander & Assoc., about 85% of
1,600 people surveyed said they had seen an Aflac ad,
compared with 47% of those surveyed in '91. But only 41% of
those surveyed knew that Aflac sells supplemental insurance,
up from 8% in '91. Aflac spokesperson Kathelen Spencer: "We
can only give so much information in 30 seconds. The
commercials and the trivia questions are a door-warmer for
our sales force." Aflac will spend more on advertising in
'97 and '98 than in the previous four years combined and new
Trivia markets in '98 include Mets and Yankees broadcasts,
the Winter Olympics and NASCAR (LEDGER-ENQUIRER, 4/28).