HPG, Braintree, Mass., announced today that Jason Lucash will step down from his role as chief development officer in order to pursue other career endeavors. Lucash will stay on in an advisory role as part of HPG’s board of directors.
“This has been one of, if not the most, difficult business decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Lucash said in a press release. “After Origaudio was acquired by HPG in September 2018, I’ve spent the last couple of years working with the rest of HPG’s senior leadership to ensure Origaudio and HPG are well-positioned for future success and growth in the promo industry. I’ve had nothing but fun over the last 13 years co-founding and growing Origaudio, launching Batch & Bodega, spearheading HPG rebrands and more, but it’s time to fully pass the torch to the talented HPG team to continue to grow and evolve these brands and businesses.”
“Jason Lucash is truly a one-of-one,” said HPG CEO Chris Anderson. “His ability to see emerging trends well ahead of the curve, is matched only by his creative output. His mind is an idea generator that functions 24-7. The industry, its customers, distributors and suppliers alike, have all benefited from Jason’s ever-present focus on what’s next—and so too have all of us at HPG. To our good fortune, he will continue as a shareholder and board member, and I look forward to leveraging his insights to the benefit of all HPG stakeholders.”
HPG’s marketing team will continue under the leadership of current director of marketing Ben Pawsey.
Lucash looked back on his time with HPG, and attributed the supplier’s success to its ability to stay current with customer trends and consumer needs.
“The Batch & Bodega team, along with the Origaudio team that I previously led, stayed on the cutting edge of product trends and customer desires by always trying to stay three steps ahead of the competition and focusing on retail fueled trends to bring into the promo industry,” Lucash told Promo Marketing. “Specifically for Batch & Bodega, I saw a huge trend in retail of small batch food makers with unbelievable stories starting to emerge locally in regional grocers, coupled with a strong online presence. I thought if we could bring those products into the promo industry and marry up best-in-class hard goods and phenomenal packaging to go with it, then we’d have a win-win situation. And we did for Batch & Bodega.”
He also noted the company’s role in innovation in the industry, particularly its approach to food promos and bringing them to a younger buying demographic.
“If suppliers continue to build products the way they always have and slightly change a product/concept from one year to the next, that isn’t going to be good enough to evolve as an industry,” Lucash said. “Suppliers need to push each other to constantly put out the best product possible as the industry, and more specifically distributors need the best tools possible in order to satisfy end users demand requests.”
For more information, visit www.hpgbrands.com.
