• by Sarah Mahoney , 61 minutes ago

Who doesn’t want to see a two-time Oscar winner get outsmarted by a duck? Ben Affleck doesn’t just go beak-to-beak with Aflac’s famous brand mascot. The actor even gets schooled by the brand’s spokes-coaches: Nick Saban, Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders and Dawn Staley.

The new campaign is from Artists Equity, the artist-led studio founded by Affleck, Matt Damon and Gerry Cardinale. And in giving Affleck a quick lesson on what Aflac’s supplemental insurance actually does –--not to mention how the duck got involved in the first place -- it’s hoping to break through with a slightly different flavor of funny.

"Green Room" is running now in football programming, and is the first in a series of campaign commercials and supporting content that will roll out on linear, digital and social platforms into next year. The insurance company also teased the campaign with billboards in Los Angeles that looked like Affleck had graffitied them himself.

"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," said Garth Knutson, Aflac’s senior vice president and CMO, in the campaign announcement. "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."

Besides its scripted and unscripted projects and the streaming deal it signed with Netflix earlier this year, Artists Equity has made a splash in commercials, including four consecutive Super Bowl spots for Dunkin’, as well as a Super Bowl campaign for Stella Artois.

While Aflac is the leading brand of supplemental health insurance, it has to outshout far mightier voices to get noticed. Variety reports that the company has an annual ad budget of less than $100 million, citing Media Radar. And it is competing with much larger property & casualty insurers, like Progressive, State Farm, Allstate, Farmers and Geico, which spend billions and also rely on humor.

"Aflac already has one of the most recognizable brand icons ever created,” said Josh Jefferis, co-president of advertising at the studio, in the release. “Our job was to build a story worthy of the Aflac Duck, one with a costar who could keep up with the iconic quack.”

Looks like Affleck will have to step up his game.