Bic Corporation is a company known for making inexpensive disposable products such as cigarette lighters, ballpoint pens, and shaving razors.

Early History

The BIC Corporation was founded in France by Marcel Bic(h) along with his partner, Edouard Buffard in 1945. The two bought a factory and set up a business making parts for mechanical pencils and fountain pens. In December of 1950, Michael 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 Hungarian inventor, Ladislao Biro), the process of manufacturing was entirely new. An inexpensive, and at the same time reliable, ballpoint pen was introduced to the world.

BIC in USA

Ten years after the release of BIC pens in Europe, the same BIC pens were introduced to the USA. US-Americans were wary of BIC pens at first. How was BIC going to show them how great their pens were? There were pens on the market at the time and people were hesitant to switch over. BIC's brilliant marketing campaign crushed all hesitation. "Writes first time, every time", the television ad told. BIC sold the pens for only 29 cents each and within a year, prices dipped down to a mere 10 cents.

External link

• Company website