Lindsey, Mendy and I made a trek to Cedar Falls, Iowa this week to meet with our new client Phantom EFX. From Indy, the quickest route is through Chicago, then to Cedar Rapids and finally an hour drive to Cedar Falls – actual air time is less than 80 minutes! For Mendy and I this was our first trip to the Hawkeye and Cyclone state. However, Lindsey actually lived in Des Moines for a year and married an Iowan (sp?), so it was sort of a homecoming for her.

We got a sneak peek at Phantom’s two newest products, which will be launching in August. Without letting the cat out of the bag, they both are super cool and they will be a great addition to their Gaming line up. We met the entire Phantom EFX team and got a behind-the-scenes look at the developers’ latest 3-D creations. We finished off the morning with a great meeting with the executive team, laying out the media relations plan for the launch.

On a side note, we arrived in Cedar Falls about 11 pm the night before and stayed at a really cool hotel that Phantom EFX suggested, The Blackhawk - which dates back to the early 1900s. None of us were too tired, so we decided to venture down Main Street to see what happens on a Monday night in Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls is home to the University of Northern Iowa, so we weren’t surprised to find a number of drinking establishments within walking distance (or crawling distance!). We noticed a number of people walking into a non-descript bar called The ReVerb . Feeling brave, we ran up the stairs to see what the fuss was all about. We walked into an interesting scene which is best described as “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore” (and are we even still in Iowa?) The Jagermiester Mini tour (a smaller version of the larger tour) was sweeping through the Midwest and we had stumbled across the Cedar Falls stop starring Dope, MakeShift Romeo and the Misfits. Dress code: Multiple tattoos, shirt optional, body piercing of any sort and lots of gel for your multi-colored hair. Needless to say we had a blast (as you can see from the photos below) and made it back to the Hotel in time to enjoy the breakfast buffet. We’re looking forward to a return trip to Cedar Falls and beginning our partnership with Phantom EFX.