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After what most deemed tasteless jokes pertaining to the Japan disaster (keep in mind that Japan is responsible for about 75% of Aflac’s revenue), Gilbert Gottfried was fired after being the voice of the Aflac duck for 11 years. What ensued was a nationwide search for a new voice and the company was inundated with over 12,500 live and on-line auditions.
After narrowing down their choices to 3 potential “ducks” they finally settled on a 36 year old father of 3 from Hugo, MN, Daniel McKeague. The winner had uploaded a 30 second recording that he had done at the radio station where he works to Aflac’s website and then he was asked later to do a formal audition through video. He has said that his children, ages 11, 8 and 5 always loved the way he would imitate the duck whenever the commercial came on.
The Chairman and CEO of Aflac, Dan Amos, thought he was the best by far, but when asked to explain why he couldn’t pinpoint a reason, instead claiming that perhaps it is just the mystique of the Aflac duck.
Daniel will receive a 1 year contract reported to be in the low 6 figure income range and Aflac says it is very likely that the contract will be renewed for many years to come. Not a bad gig for a sales manager from Minnesota.
Related articles
- Aflac Duck’s new voice from Minn. sales manager (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Aflac Duck gets a Minnesota accent (usatoday.com)
- The Aflac Duck Gets A New Voice. Listen Here! (huffingtonpost.com)
- And the New Voice of the Aflac Duck Is… (mediabistro.com)
- The Aflac Duck’s New Voice Has Been Found (dlisted.com)
