ARCHIVEMontréal International Pitches AI to the World With a Local Twist
Montréal International's 2022 film campaign 'We introduce you to AI with a Montréal flavor' is a mixed-media promotional video produced by Gimmick Studio that positions Greater Montréal as a world-leading artificial intelligence ecosystem, targeting foreign investors, international organizations, and global talent across the Canadian and international markets.
Montréal International published the campaign on May 3, 2022, in Canada. The launch was timed deliberately to coincide with the World AI Summit Americas, held May 4 and 5, 2022, giving the film an immediate, high-profile audience of decision-makers already engaged with the artificial intelligence sector. The strategic alignment between the release date and the summit signals a campaign designed not for passive brand awareness but for active investor conversion.
The film's central proposition is that Greater Montréal's AI ecosystem is distinguished not only by technical sophistication but by a commitment to deploying artificial intelligence for socially and environmentally beneficial purposes. According to Montréal International's own framing, the campaign highlights AI applications ranging from combating climate change and improving public health to, as the creative memorably puts it, saving the bees. This 'AI for good' positioning differentiates the Greater Montréal offer from purely commercial technology pitches emanating from rival hubs in the United States and Europe.
Gimmick Studio, a Montréal-based creative studio, handled creative direction, design, and animation entirely in-house, with copywriting by Dom Bulmer and audio production by Studio Edgar, according to production credits documented by Ads of the World. The campaign contains one primary film asset and was submitted to the archive by Yohann Rabusseau, credited as graphic designer at Montréal International. Clapboard assigns the campaign a score of 63 out of 100, reflecting competent execution of a clearly defined public service brief within the constraints of a civic economic development mandate.
ARCHIVEMontréal International operates as Canada's primary economic development organization for Greater Montréal, competing directly with peer institutions promoting rival technology clusters in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver for foreign direct investment and international talent. The strategic challenge underpinning the 'We introduce you to AI with a Montréal flavor' campaign is substantial: how to differentiate a city-level AI brand in a global market where every major metropolitan region now claims innovation credentials.
Global foreign direct investment flows reached approximately US$1.58 trillion in 2021, according to UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2022, before declining approximately 12 percent in 2022 to roughly US$1.31 trillion, according to UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2023. In that contracting environment, Montréal International supported 102 investment projects and announced approximately C$3.581 billion in supported investments in 2022, according to montrealinternational.com. These figures establish the concrete commercial stakes behind a campaign that might otherwise read as civic cheerleading.
The consumer insight driving the campaign's creative strategy is that investors and talent do not choose cities on data alone. They choose places where they can imagine living and working. By embedding a distinct Montréal cultural personality into an artificial intelligence brief — using irreverence, local flavor, and a fast-paced visual energy described by Motionographer as 'fast-paced, funny, and weird' — Gimmick Studio translated a dry investment pitch into an identity statement. The 'AI for good' framing further addresses a documented anxiety among international technology professionals about the social consequences of artificial intelligence, positioning Greater Montréal as a responsible and values-aligned destination rather than merely a technically capable one.
Gimmick Studio built the 'We introduce you to AI with a Montréal flavor' film using a layered mixed-media production approach. According to production documentation cited by Ads of the World and independently covered by Motionographer, the campaign combines 2D illustration, 3D animation, live-action footage, visual effects, and type animation within a single cohesive film. This technical eclecticism is not incidental — it mirrors the campaign's argument that artificial intelligence in Greater Montréal operates across a similarly diverse range of disciplines and sectors.
Motionographer, which published a feature on the project on February 13, 2023, characterized the film's tone as 'fast-paced, funny, and weird,' a description that accurately captures the deliberate choice to avoid the sleek, corporate visual language that dominates most technology sector communications. The creative team, led by Gimmick Studio with copywriting by Dom Bulmer and audio production by Studio Edgar, according to credits documented by Ads of the World, opted instead for a register closer to editorial animation — a style native to Montréal's independent creative culture rather than imported from Silicon Valley aesthetics.
The production consulted or referenced participating organizations including Aifred Health, Audiokinetic, Bombardier, and CAE, according to Ads of the World and montrealinternational.com, grounding the film's 'AI for good' claims in identifiable Greater Montréal entities rather than abstract promises. This evidential approach within an animated format is structurally unusual for a public service film and adds a layer of credibility that purely illustrative campaigns in the technology and electronics category often lack. Yohann Rabusseau of Montréal International is credited as submitting graphic designer, according to clapboard.com.
The 'We introduce you to AI with a Montréal flavor' campaign generated nearly 2 million completed views worldwide, according to Montréal International's 2022 activity report. For a civic economic development film in Canada operating outside a paid mass-market advertising budget, that figure represents substantial organic and distributed reach, consistent with content that found audiences through conference channels, professional networks, and editorial platforms rather than broadcast media buys.
Montréal International reached 38 million people through Facebook and Instagram across its 29 digital campaigns in 2022, according to montrealinternational.com, providing broader context for the organisation's digital marketing capacity during the year the AI film was active. The AI film itself accumulated 1,329 views and 21 likes on the Clapboard archive as of the submission record, according to clapboard.com, figures that reflect archival engagement rather than the campaign's primary distribution performance.
No verified coverage of the campaign has been located from trade publications including Campaign, Ad Age, Adweek, or The Drum. Motionographer remains the only substantive independent editorial outlet to have covered the work, per clapboard.com research. The absence of mainstream advertising trade press coverage limits third-party validation but does not diminish the campaign's functional achievement: a single film asset, produced by a specialist Montréal studio, reached a global audience of a scale meaningful to an economic development mandate. The Clapboard Score of 63 out of 100 reflects a campaign that executes its brief with clarity and creative confidence while stopping short of the category-redefining ambition that would warrant broader industry recognition.
Montréal International's campaign is a 2022 mixed-media film by Gimmick Studio promoting Greater Montréal as a global artificial intelligence hub. It targets foreign investors, international organizations, and talent worldwide, positioning the city's AI ecosystem around socially beneficial applications including climate action and public health innovation.
Montréal International published the film on May 3, 2022, in Canada. The release date was deliberately chosen to precede the World AI Summit Americas on May 4 and 5, 2022, placing the campaign directly in front of an international audience of investors and technology leaders already engaged with artificial intelligence.
Gimmick Studio, a Montréal-based creative studio, produced the film, handling creative direction, design, and animation. Copywriting was by Dom Bulmer and audio production by Studio Edgar, according to credits documented by Ads of the World. Yohann Rabusseau of Montréal International is credited as submitting graphic designer.
The campaign generated nearly 2 million completed views worldwide, according to Montréal International's 2022 activity report. This reach is notable for a civic economic development film in Canada operating as a targeted investor-facing asset rather than a mass-market paid advertising placement across broadcast or streaming channels.
Gimmick Studio combined 2D illustration, 3D animation, live-action footage, visual effects, and type animation in a single film, according to Ads of the World and Motionographer. Motionographer described the result as fast-paced, funny, and weird — a deliberate departure from the polished corporate aesthetic typical of technology sector communications.
Montréal International's 'We introduce you to AI with a Montréal flavor' campaign holds a Clapboard Score of 63 out of 100. The score reflects competent, clearly purposeful public service creative execution by Gimmick Studio that fulfils its economic development brief without reaching the category-redefining ambition that typically attracts mainstream advertising trade recognition.
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