…TBWA Chiat/Day was actually the sole winner of Sears Canada’s recently awarded $75-million advertising account, but felt it couldn’t take on the entire account because of conflicts with Shoppers Drug Mart. Ammirati & Puris Lintas, which won a share of the business with Chiat/Day and Young & Rubicam, apparently came in second in the selection process.

…Vickers & Benson may be close to closing the sale of its agency to MDC Communications, the integrated communications company that also owns a piece of Ambrose Carr Linton Carroll and LBJ-FRB.

…Canoe is meeting with a trio of unnamed Toronto shops to get some help with its branding, and plans to name a new full service agency of record this week. The online news and information provider – which is part of Quebecor’s new media division – had announced it was prepping for an agency review sometime in early February. But the portal has decided against calling a full agency review, and is instead speeding up the process so it can start promoting a number of new initiatives in the coming months, according to Rosanne Caron, the Web site’s vice-president of marketing and research. Canoe recently dropped its AOR, Ambrose Carr Linton Carroll, because it wanted a shop that had offices in both Toronto and Montreal, in order to service its French-language Web site.

…The takeover of Cashway lumber stores by Boucherville, Que.-based Rona isn’t the only home improvement merger in the works. With Rona, Revy, Home Depot and Réno-Dép`t now all competing in Ontario, two players are likely to blow off their big-box holdings and realign themselves in smaller boxes. Observers have long said there’s only room for two big-box players in the market, and the survivors of the shakeout are expected to be those with the deepest pockets.

…Timberland isn’t doing so well with the sportwear shop it recently opened on the lakefront strip in tony Oakville, Ont. According to Glenn Stonehouse, president of Grafton-Fraser, the chain’s owner, the boutique format is a bust and won’t be expanded as the chain rolls across the country. He says its mall stores, however, are doing just fine.

The Garden promotes two creative directors

ACDs Lindsay Eady and Francheska Galloway-Davis have taken over responsibility for day-to-day creative leadership at The Garden after being promoted to creative director roles.

The pair will also help develop the agency’s creative talent, formalizing mentorship and leadership activities they have been doing since joining the agency four and three years ago, respectively. In addition to creating the agency’s internship program, the pair have worked on campaigns for Coinsquare, FitTrack and “The Coke Challenge” campaign for DanceSafe.

Eady and Galloway-Davis will continue to report to The Garden’s co-founder and chief creative officer Shane Ogilvie, who is stepping back from daily creative duties to a more high-level strategic role, allowing him to focus on client relationships and business growth.

Naked Creative Consultancy names new creative and strategy leadership

Toronto’s Naked Creative Consultancy has hired Yasmin Sahni as its new creative director. She is taking over creative leadership from David Kenyon, who has been in the role for 10 years and is moving into a new role as director of strategy, leading the discipline at the agency.

Sahni is coming off of three years as VP and ECD at GTB’s Toronto office, where she managed all the retail, social and service creative for Ford Canada. She previously managed both Vice Media and Vice’s in-house ad agency Virtue.

Peter Shier, president of Naked, says Sahni’s hiring adds to its creative bench and capabilities, as well as a track record of mentorship, a priority for the company. Meanwhile, Kenyon’s move to the strategy side, he says, makes sense because of his deep knowledge of its clients, which have included Ancestry and The Globe and Mail.

Digital Ethos opens a Toronto office

U.K. digital agency Digital Ethos is pursuing new growth opportunities in North America by opening a new office in Toronto.

Though it didn’t disclose them, the agency has begun serving a number of North American clients, and CEO/founder Luke Tobin says the “time was right to invest in a more formal and actual presence in the area.” whose services include design, SEO, pay-per-click, social media, influencer and PR,

This year, the agency’s growth has also allowed it to open an office in Hamburg, Germany, though it also has remote staff working in countries around the world.

Moray Hickes was the company’s first North American hire as VP of sales, tasked with business development in the region.