Opportunity
Following Trane Technologies’ acquisition of BrainBox AI in January 2025, the organization prepared to unveil a significant milestone: the grand opening of the BrainBox AI Trane Technologies AI Lab and showroom in Montreal, a hands-on innovation hub designed to advance the next generation of AI capabilities for HVAC and transport 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, BrainBox AI needed credible, specialist media to experience the facility firsthand, which meant persuading journalists to travel to Montreal and engage directly with the technology, the executives, and the story.
Solution
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 of where AI and HVAC intersect, audiences who would recognize the significance of what BrainBox AI and Trane Technologies 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 from Trane Technologies and BrainBox AI. 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.
Result
ACHR News Senior Managing Editor Maria Taylor traveled to Montreal 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.
Her piece, “I Touched AI — It Didn’t Bite,” 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 senior executives, Taylor reframed the conversation around productivity and precision rather than displacement, capturing a now-quotable summary of AI’s role in the trades: “We’re just going to tell them which wrench to turn at the right time.”
The result was coverage that landed in the hands of the audience that matters most to BrainBox AI and Trane Technologies – 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.