Peter “Rusty” Luchak started Campus Promotions Inc. (CPI) in London, Ontario, Canada while a senior in college. CPI provided branding material for Universities and Colleges and, over time, drifted into the beer industry back when the brewers believed that early adopters made for the best long-term customers. CPI catered to the next generation of leaders, so it was a natural fit. Especially since CPI’s had a long history of developing new products, which Rusty says “kept the work life interesting”.

Fast forward a few decades, Laura Luchak joined the business to help her father with a new perspective on the changing times. They both agreed that a new idea was required in order to develop relevance in a constantly changing, rapidly evolving work world. Hence the Crafty Can Cooler (C3) was born, and eight patents later, the product is ready to go market. What the two generations did not agree on was how to go to market?

Rusty was old school and preached what he knew. He told Laura, “We must develop a marketing plan that caters to today’s trend of scalable single SKU (stock keeping units) products. It’s time for a new concept for a bottle/can insulator which is used by tens of millions of people every day. This product must be fit for use in all global markets. Further, while we can decorate at the factory we must be able to print locally for even the smallest event. Develop something familiar but with a twist and make sure the product is patentable. No IP (Intellectual Property) means no ID (Identity)."

Laura Yawned. While she agreed that the original C3 could be used for 343/473/500 mil cans and could be branded on the body as well as the lip, to her it was blah blah blah. "You miss the point, dad." Said Laura,

“Forget the trend. Buck them. Be irreverent! Let’s make drinking and the social interaction more of an experience. Maybe people will put down their phones and start talking to each other again. Making your point is only limited by your imagination. Embrace it. Put it on Brew Buy. Figure out more ways to add more functions because that is cool. And don’t forget about the environment”.

So, here we are... looking forward to seeing where the chips fall.

I encourage you all to experience our labour of love. We might not always be on the same page, but we absolutely agree that having fun, being social and engaging our communities will always be an important part of our life experience. It would be great if our ideas could help this process along the way. 

Cheers, 

Rusty and Laura.