Société Bic

Bic logo

Société Bic is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, best known for making affordable one-time-use products including cigarette lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, and shaving razors. It competes against Faber-Castell, Global Gillette, Newell Rubbermaid and Stabilo. The Bic pen, more correctly titled the Bic Cristal, is perhaps the company's best-known product.

Bic also creates watersports products.[1]

History

BIC was founded in France by Marcel Bich with Edouard Buffard in 1945. The two bought a factory and set up a business making parts for mechanical pencils and fountain pens. In December 1950, Marcel Bich introduced his own ballpoint pen, and named it the BIC. The 'h' from Bich was dropped in order to avoid a potentially inappropriate English pronunciation of the name. Although the pens weren't entirely new (Bich obtained patent rights from Argentine-Hungarian inventor, László Bíró), the process of manufacturing was. An inexpensive, and at the same time reliable, ballpoint pen was introduced to the world. In early September 2005, BIC announced that it had sold its 100 billionth disposable ballpoint pen, making it the world's best-selling pen.

In Belgium - probably in France as well- the brand name 'Bic' has become generic, referring to all (disposable) ballpoint pens.

In the U.S.

Ten years after the release of BIC pens in Europe, the same BIC pens were introduced to the USA. Americans were wary of BIC pens at first. There were many other pens on the market at the time and people were hesitant to switch over. BIC's marketing share increased with its televised advertising campaign, with the slogan "Writes first time, every time." BIC sold the pens for 29 cents each and, within a year, prices dipped down to a mere 10 cents. Bic is famous mainly for cheap reliable pens. One of its most successful pens is the Cristal. In terms of lighters, Bic is the top-selling disposable lighter in the USA, partly due to the success of the Wells, Rich, Greene (WRG, 1967-1990) advertising agency's "Flick Your Bic" marketing campaign. Their success can also be attributed to their large array of simple, distinctive colors (making it easy to keep track of "your lighter"), and smooth form (making them excellent bottle openers).

Ownership

The Bich family owns about 40% of BIC's stock and controls 55% of its voting power.

Revenue

Stationery (pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, crayons, and correction products): 43%
Lighters (disposable, utility, and special-edition): 49%
Shavers (men's and women's): 8%

External links

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