Presidential Visit Turns Spotlight to Cedar Falls

Marine One touched down on the landing strip at the Waterloo Regional Airport last week, heralding the arrival of President Barack Obama. President Obama, who last visited Cedar Falls in 2012 during his campaign for re-election, was in town to speak at Cedar Falls Utilities regarding their efforts to provide affordable and reliable high-speed Internet. The city of Cedar Falls lit up the Internet a week ago when President Barack Obama touted their remarkable Internet speed in a video released online about increasing public broadband efforts around the country. Cedar Falls ranks fifth worldwide in terms of Internet speed, behind just Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris. Speaking at a warehouse of Cedar Falls Utilities, President Obama praised their work and encouraged other communities across the United States to follow their example. CFU was created in 1994 as part of a community-wide initiative to bring high speed Internet service to the area, when other phone and cable companies made no plans to upgrade their networks. Mudd Advertising is one of several area businesses that were elated to see their small Iowa town receive recognition on a national scale. By being based out of Cedar Falls, Mudd has reaped the benefits of high speed Internet service, using it to bolster their digital advertising services. To keep pace with the evolving advertising world, Mudd has continued to embrace digital advertising, in addition to the more traditional methods, such as direct mail, that were used to build the company. Jim Mudd, Sr. founded Mudd Advertising back in 1981 with a focus on direct mail services for the automotive retail market. How does high speed Internet benefit Mudd? Web page load time has become more important than ever in the digital age, and being able to advertise to consumers with high speed Internet is a significant advantage. The negative effects from a slow loading page can cost companies millions of dollars in lost sales, so the service that CFU provides is huge for both the community and area businesses. Mudd Advertising is proud to call Cedar Falls home, and this moment of recognition from the president is but a signpost for the future success of this small but significant Iowa town.

Image courtesy of the Washington Times.