NEW YORK — Aflac is betting a sales manager from Minnesota has the voice to drive the name “Aflac” into the recesses of your brain and keep it there. Daniel McKeague, 36, a father of three from Hugo, Minn., beat out 12,500 other contestants to replace actor Gilbert Gottfried.
Gottfried was the voice of Aflac’s duck in the U.S. for 11 years. He was ousted in March after making insensitive remarks on Twitter about Japan’s earthquake and tsunami. Japan produces about 75 percent of Aflac’s revenue.
McKeague recorded a 30-second clip at a radio station in Minneapolis where he works, uploaded it to Aflac’s website and later did a more formal audition.
“Whenever that ad would come on, I would imitate the duck, and the kids loved it,” said McKeague, whose children are 5, 8 and 11. The Associated Press
