Altar Boyz musical runs video ad within NYC tourism app

By Dan Butcher

October 29, 2009

Altar Boyz is a satirical musical comedy

Off-Broadway musical "Altar Boyz" is running a promotional video within CityShow NYC, a GPS application for iPhone that is an audio/visual guide to New York City.

The in-video call-to-action urges consumers to contact Ticketmaster to buy Altar Boyz tickets. GPS Multi-Media Inc.�s new CityShow iPhone application, which targets New Yorkers and visitors to the city, turns the mobile device into a handheld GPS-based tour guide, providing historic facts, anecdotes, photos, music and descriptions for hundreds of points-of-interest in Manhattan.

�The target demographic is a 50/50 split,� said Brian Teasley, president of GPS Multi-Media, New York. �Any tourist with an iPhone should have this when they are in NYC, but as pure entertainment, any NYC person with an iPhone would enjoy it too.��

�Content is all editorial�nothing is paid�we'll build up an audience and start adding advertisements,� he said. �It's really a �here's what tourists would want to know about� tool and audio guide to NYC.

�We have a video from Altar Boyz, a major successful Off-Broadway show right now, and we will offer video ads�b-roll or whatever someone wants�as well as info screens that will have phone numbers of where to call.�

CityShow NYC is a location-based tourism app leveraging the iPhone's GPS functionality

Altar Boyz is an Off-Broadway musical comedy about a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio. It addresses and satirizes, among other things, the phenomenon of boy bands and the popularity of Christian-themed music and products in contemporary American culture.

GPS Multi-Media Inc. is an entertainment and technology company that specializes in location-based media and services.

The company offers the CityShow product and derivations of it for the tourism, travel and corporate industries.

CityShow NYC features audio and video content about landmarks around Manhattan

The CityShow NYC application uses GPS signals to locate the user and alert them to nearby points-of-interest. It then provides full-stereo audio information about the locations at the touch of a button.

In addition to historical points of interest, CityShow NYC also provides information about select restaurants, shops and the nearest subway stations. There is also a "How to" section that gives travel directions from midtown hotels to major tourist destinations.

�It's sort of like a $25 guide book, but with GPS, better tools, audio and video,� Mr. Teasley said. �It will replace guidebooks over time, as you don't have to flip through pages of a book and read anything.

�It automatically locates what you are near and talks to you,� he said.�

CityShow NYC is based on patented technology that debuted at the Top of the Rock Observation Deck at Rockefeller Center in 2006. It was the basis for audio tours rented to visitors of the observation deck.

Now CityShow NYC covers all of New York City and is available for the iPhone. The application is $6.99 per download in the App Store.

There is also a version for Microsoft�s Windows Mobile platform, and there are plans under consideration to roll this out to other smartphone platforms.

The company is running Facebook ads to promote the application.

�We just launched the iPhone version, and we are keeping the price low, currently $6.99, although I think it would sell for $14.99 or $19.99�there is that much value stuffed into it,� Mr. Teasley said.