It’s been two weeks since Sears Canada split its advertising creative account between incumbent Ammirati Puris and TBWA Chiat/Day, but the retailer has still not decided which agency will be handed the task of breathing new life into the once-venerable Eaton’s brand.
Originally, Sears said it planned to award its retail branding assignment to one agency, and have another shop work on both the Sears Whole Home business and the Eaton’s banner. But that thinking changed during the review process after agencies presented Sears with some different ideas for divvying up the business.
‘We’re rethinking a couple of things,’ says Nina MacLaverty, Sears’ vice-president of retail advertising. ‘The (shortlisted agencies) have given us some food for thought on not only who does what, but how to bundle it.’
Regardless of which agency inherits the Eaton’s business, one thing is clear: The banner will be abandoning its most recent positioning strategy – chic fashion items for the younger set – and moving back to its roots.
Paul Walters, CEO of Sears Canada, has said in published reports that the company’s six Eaton’s locations will return to selling hard goods like appliances and electronics and that its fashion offerings will be positioned somewhere between the everyday assortment at Sears and the upscale selection at Holt Renfrew.
Communicating the new positioning to consumers will pose a significant challenge, however, since many of Eaton’s previously loyal customers may already feel too alienated by events of the recent past to rekindle their affinity for the brand.
‘They’ve got to get it right, first off the bat,’ says Richard Talbot, an analyst at Unionville, Ont.-based Talbot Consultants. ‘There’s got to be a ‘wow’ factor when people walk into the store to restore instant credibility.’
Because Sears is only operating six Eaton’s stores, each of which is located in a different urban market, Talbot says the store’s new handlers will have to stop marketing it as a conventional retail brand.
‘I think what they have to do is define who their target customers are in the specific markets they’re in,’ he says. ‘Each of the different markets has different ethnic mixes, different incomes, and different needs. It’s that kind of independent focus, rather than a chain focus that [they need].’
MacLaverty would not comment on when a new campaign to promote Eaton’s repositioning will break, although most observers figure it will appear in late summer, in time for back-to-school shopping.
