The ability to attract international talent, tourists and investments is an essential component in ensuring that a city such as Montreal is competitive.

International outreach has therefore become a necessary element in the success of a metropolitan region.

For a city’s actions on the international stage to be effective, there must be cohesion among the various socio-economic, political and cultural players that represent it.

For this reason, it is imperative for the region to adopt an international positioning and promotional strategy. This should be accompanied by a branding that delivers a clear, cohesive and distinctive message to all stakeholders with operations or contacts on the international stage.

This message must reflect a unifying vision of the metropolitan region, where residents of municipalities throughout the region can recognize themselves, even though the brand will ultimately only convey a limited number of major features.

In other words, the brand will have to convey Greater Montreal’s DNA, i.e. an environment and an atmosphere in which economic attractiveness, culture and quality of life can all figure prominently.

Above all, the branding that is selected must elicit a sense of belonging and pride in the entire Greater Montreal community.

This is a brief overview of the exciting challenge facing the Montreal metropolitan region today.