• by Emily Burg , December 15, 2006

Supplementary insurance company Aflac, known for its memorable quacking duck, is training its sights on the growing Hispanic market.

Columbus, Ohio-based Aflac, the world's largest seller of supplemental insurance, gets 70% of its revenues from Japan, and has been looking for a way to increase its U.S.-derived revenues.

The buying power of the Hispanic population is forecast to grow from $735.6 billion to $1.08 trillion in 2010. Financial services is a category where Hispanic spending typically increases as the family's disposable income rises.

Aflac's first step was to launch aflacenespanol.com, a Spanish-language version of the company's Web site.

While it has not specifically developed any products for the Hispanic market, the company's "bottom-up" culture--in which its sales agents suggest product ideas to management--means the 65,000-strong domestic sales force can get to know the Hispanic demographic and brainstorm solutions specific to it.

From the "top-down," the company is taking a civic-minded approach to developing a relationship with the Hispanic community. Aflac forged an alliance with the Latino Coalition to create the Aflac Civic Awards, which this week honored Hispanic small business leaders.