Montreal Ad Firms Propose City As Global Testing Ground for New Strategies

MONTREAL - Montreal's advertising industry is poised to launch an international effort that could shape how the next generation of consumers gets courted.

A consortium of advertisers will set out on trade missions to encourage companies to use Montreal as a multilingual, multiethnic petri dish for companies seeking a cheap way to test campaigns destined for the U.S. and, eventually, Europe.

The Association of Quebec Advertising Agencies will market the project at the prestigious New York Advertising Week trade show next month, and send a delegation to Chicago in November.

Sebastien Faure, the association's chairman, says Montreal is an ideal testing ground because its different language influences have produced advertising styles that would be considered groundbreaking in other markets.

For example, the Quebec auto-insurance board is well known for graphic ads illustrating the dangers of speeding.

The province's workplace safety board also produces shockingly graphic ads warning against negligence on a job site.

Private-sector advertisers like car companies are known to use far more humour in their spots than they would for comparable ones in English-speaking North America.

Faure says the project named Yul-Lab, a name derived from the three-letter airport code for Montreal, will also help companies to use emerging platforms like the Facebook and Twitter websites.