Mike Krzyzewski and Dawn Staley will be the headliners in the newest Aflac “GOATS” advertising campaign, which will build off of the initial success generated by Colorado football coach Deion Sanders and Alabama football coach Nick Saban. The latest spots anchored by the retired Duke men’s basketball coach and Staley, the championship-winning women’s basketball coach at South Carolina, will run throughout March Madness. Aflac is in its third year as an NCAA partner and official supplemental insurance company. The Columbus, Ga.-based business plans to activate on the ground in Dallas, site of the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four.
DEALING WITH DISPARITY: Aflac CMO Garth Knutson, in an interview with SBJ, addressed the move of its activation dollars from the Men’s Final Four to the Women’s Final Four this season in Dallas: “Like a lot of sponsors who over-activate at the Men’s Final Four or they spend all of their activation at the Men’s Final Four, we’re part of that group. But there has been a lot of attention placed on the disparity between the men’s and women’s Final Four. In our first two years, we didn’t do anything about it. We activated on the ground at the men’s event, like most sponsors did. So, we decided that we were going to do everything we could do to change that. We struck a long-term deal with Coach Staley and we’ll continue to look for opportunities like that.” The March Madness campaign was created by Dagger, the Atlanta-based creative agency and supported by PR firm Allison+Partners, Atlanta marketing agency Melt and Spark Foundry. Knutson also gave credit to Daryl Cobbin, managing partner at Atlanta-based Brand Positioning Doctors, which identified talent and brand ambassadors for the March Madness campaign.
MAKING A LIST: As part of their marketing relationship, Aflac is working with Staley to identify what they’re calling “Dawn’s List,” inequities in sports targeted by the brand in collaboration with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and Staley. The program aims to draw attention to the gaps in women’s college basketball. Dawn’s List includes:
- Resource equity: Whether it’s player attention, coaches’ recognition, spend or merchandise, a continual resource inequity persists between the men and women’s tournaments.
- Fan experience: Through the years, there has been less investment in the fan experience at the Women’s Final Four compared to the men’s tournament. College basketball fans deserve a thrilling and vibrant atmosphere no matter which tournament they are attending.
- Community engagement: Aflac, Coach Dawn Staley and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) are passionate about helping young women become role models and pillars in their communities. As such, they are working together to provide more opportunities to enable community engagement.
