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Great TV Ad Campaigns

Eaton's Aubergine

Image via Skinlovr's Photo Stream

EATON'S Downtown Winnipeg store

1905 - 1999

With nearly 900,000 square feet, Winnipeg's Eaton's store was the second largest in the company chain, the largest being in Toronto. This and the Toronto store were the only ones still in existence until its insolvency. Comprising 895,000 square feet, the Winnipeg store was the second largest Eaton's outlet in Canada and was opened personally by company founder, Timothy Eaton, in 1905.

In the late 1990s, Canada's Eaton's Department stores were on their last legs, unable to compete with low end Walmart, medium-range Sears or the high end Hudson's Bay Company (The Bay). In a last ditch effort to save the 130-year-old company from bankruptcy, some innovative – and expensive – advertising was commissioned.

Heavily influenced by the movie "The Hudsucker Proxy," ad executives came up with a spectacular TV campaign called "Aubergine." To start, there was a four-and-a-half minute ad extravaganza splashed across all three Canadian national television networks. The story line mirrored Eaton's own situation – a department store chain in trouble.

Alas, in the end, it was all for naught and the Timothy Eaton Company faded into history when the last Eaton's store closed its doors on February 26, 2002.