DreamBank, American Family Insurance’s contribution to Capitol Square, received a visit from “American Idol” Season 11 winner and the organization’s spokesperson, Phillip Phillips, last week in an effort to promote the store’s mission of encouraging people to follow their dreams.

Phillips came to the American Family Insurance flagship store to host a small event, one of many events that DreamBank puts on, Chris Rudolph, one of the store’s “dream curators,” said. He said the store is less focused on selling insurance policies and more focused on creating an inspiring community space.

DreamBank is sponsored by American Family Insurance, which started in Madison 86 years ago, Rudolph said. He said the company sponsors DreamBank as a way to give back to the Madison community and represent the insurance company in a tangible way.

“DreamBank is a free interactive community space that is solely dedicated to inspiring and equipping people to pursue their dreams,” Rudolph said.

More specifically, DreamBank hosts three to five community events per week that range from family events such as kids’ Zumba and Jazzercize to student and professional events such as resume and interview workshops, Rudolph said.

DreamBank also offers VIP study nights in which a group of students can use the location to study while DreamBank provides Ian’s Pizza, according to the organization’s website.

However, when events are not being held in the DreamBank office, anyone is welcome to come, hang out and use the space to study or work, Rudolph said. Everything they have there is free for anyone, he said.

Rudolph added DreamBank also hosts interactive exhibits.

The current exhibit theme is “Attitude of Gratitude,” which features notes hanging on the walls, in which visitors can write about what they wanted to share and with whom, and free “30 Days of Gratitude” journals, in which any person can write something to be grateful for every day for 30 days.

“That’s kind of the trend, you can buy almost anything online but if you actually go into somewhere, you want to have an experience,” Rudolph said. “Some companies have done this really well, Apple with their Apple store, Starbucks […] it’s not just a cup of coffee, it’s the atmosphere. How do you do that with insurance? […] What we’ve found is that you can experience and be inspired to dream, so this is kind of our physical representation of our brand.”

Rudolph said that the idea for DreamBank came from research that was done for American Family’s commercial campaign, featuring the mantra “your dream is out there, go get it, we’ll protect it.” What was discovered, he said, was that individuals who maintain dreams in life are happier, healthier and more likely to invest in their communities.

Since the opening of DreamBank in October 2012, they have had 30,000 visitors, Marta Kinsman, another DreamBank dream curator, said. Their audience ranges from young families to young entrepreneurs to college students, she said.

Kinsman said part of the DreamBank marketing strategy is to distribute information at Starbucks, Barriques and Copps as well as walking along State Street and Capitol Square to hang information on community calendars.