Opening the Doors: How Access-Led PR Launched an AI Innovation Lab

Following a major acquisition of an AI HVAC technology company, the organization prepared to unveil a significant milestone: the grand opening of an AI Lab and showroom in Montreal, a hands-on innovation hub designed to advance the next generation of AI capabilities for HVAC and temperature control solutions. 

The challenge was not simply announcing the launch. The goal was to make the world feel it.  

The AI Lab represented a convergence of two organizations, a commitment to sustainable AI development, and a tangible demonstration of where the HVAC industry is heading. To convey that, the client needed credible, specialist media to experience the facility firsthand, which meant persuading journalists to travel and engage directly with the technology, the executives, and the story. 

Montieth & Company developed a marketing communications and PR approach through a targeted media engagement strategy centered on selective outreach to specialist trade press with the authority and readership to shape industry understanding and generate interest. Rather than pursuing volume, the team identified reporters whose coverage demonstrated a genuine grasp on where AI and HVAC intersect, audiences who would recognize the significance of what the client had built, and communicate it credibly to the contractors, technicians, and building operators who rely on that press.

The pitch was built around access: a firsthand, interactive experience of the AI Lab and showroom, combined with direct access to senior executives, including the parent company’s CEO, its Chief Digital Officer, and the acquired company’s founder and president. The showroom itself, combining architecture with a museum-grade digital experience, was positioned not as a product demonstration but as a window into the future of intelligent building systems. 

The strategy recognized that the right journalist, given the right access and context, could generate influential coverage that carried more weight with the target audience than a broad press release ever would. 

A senior editor from a leading trade publication traveled to the city for the grand opening and published a feature that did precisely what the strategy aimed for: it translated a complex technology story into a narrative that resonated directly with the HVAC professionals reading it. 

The piece engaged head-on with the industry’s central anxiety around AI, and whether it threatens the livelihoods of the technicians who install and service HVAC equipment. Drawing on direct interviews with the three executives, the reporter reframed the conversation around productivity and precision rather than displacement, capturing a memorable line from the CEO summarizing AI’s role in the trades as helping technicians know exactly which task to prioritize and when. 

The result was coverage that landed in the hands of the audience that matters most to the client, working HVAC professionals, contractors, and the broader trades community, delivered through one of the industry’s most trusted publications. By securing the right journalist, providing genuine access, and letting the AI Lab speak for itself, Montieth & Company transformed a product launch into an industry moment.