When I saw the large roadworks sign as we drove through Waipukurau Easter Weekend advertising State Insurance’s “free real coffee 400m” a sour whiff of marketing rubbish filled my nose. I fear being the youngest person in the Ideas Shop office I am the most cynical. Being within the Generation Y bracket I am caustically aware of marketing campaigns that seem too good to be true, a consequence of being hustled since birth. 

So naturally, my logic sneered, at what cost? Real coffee, I scoffed, “I bet it’s plunger!” My boyfriend, bless his older socks, suggested we stop. Ignoring my grumbles, he pulled into the parking bay. I moaned all the way out the passenger side and into the rest area, with the friendly State parking attendant not dissolving my wary resolve.

Yet to my dismay, State had overturned all my assumptions   within minutes - and I am not the push-over type. I was in a state of disbelief, walking around drop-jawed and red-cheeked and still secretly searching for the catch. But there wasn’t one. Finally, a corporate had got it. Sure the campaign lowered their accident claims, but mainly it was raising their reputation. So how did State win over this world-weary Gen Y’er?

• It was true, for once. The coffee was real. It was Havana, pure Wellington quality. Flat White, Long Black, Soy Mocha – all well-made (almost unheard of out of the capital city). 
• I was left alone. It was bliss. Nobody pestered me to change insurers, fill in forms or enter competitions (incidentally, I was already a State customer. They just happened to be the cheapest I could find as a student. However, now I am a proud State customer and a mouthy one, lucky them). 
• All the State helpers were pleasant, as real as their coffee was good.  You can completely sense when events are chaotically organised, when staff are stressed, and no one has bought in to the gig (it is just astonishing how many businesses pretend they comprehend staff engagement yet still manage to fail at every opportunity).

Also, I willingly (and this hardly ever happens) filled in a feedback form. I know this customer information is gold and only impart with it when I think an organisation is worth the time. However, at that moment I had no better way to improve the campaign!

Now, I would suggest increased pre-event promotion as I only knew about it by driving past and also post-event success promotion. Oh, I lie, I did suggest sustainable packaging? However, when we drove away and I examined my State water bottle I saw it was an eco-bottle and that my takeaway coffee cup was made from recycled materials. 

I heart State Insurance. Long may it last?