Doejo was featured in Contagious Magazine for its work with State Farm’s Next Door Café in Lincoln Park. The quarterly magazine is a global advertising and marketing communications trade that profiles the relationship between brands and consumers.

In its recent issue, Contagious features a case study of State Farm and it’s marketing campaigns as a 90-year-old stalwart of the US insurance industry. Within this article, writer Lucy Aitken hits on State Farm’s Next Door Café, operated and managed by Doejo. (IDEO created the actual Next Door space for State Farm’s finacial coaching/ community events.)

Here’s an excerpt from Contagious Magazine, Issue 30:

[State Farm strives on making] the brand more effective in capturing attention. One example is Next Door Café. In August 2011, with the help of Doejo, a startup in Chicago, State Farm took over a former branch of Brans & Noble in the city and invited the locals to pop in for coffee, chill out on a sofa and take advantage of the free WiFi. … State Farm benefitted by offering Chicagoans free financial coaching to help them take control of their finances.

Alongside the tips on taxes and recommendations for retirement are yoga classes, workshops in organic nutrition and an open mic night. The Next Door Café, where only a couple of vintage State Farm signs connect back to the brand, also doubles up as a community space.