Bic (company)

In 1992, Bic purchased Wite-Out Products, an American brand of correction products, and subsequently reintroduced the correction fluid as Bic Wite Out.[17]

In 2000, the Marne-la-Vallée factory opened. Two years later, the company launched BIC Sport kayaks, and the BIC Comfort 3 & BIC Soleil razors were both released soon after. In 2004, BIC acquired Stypen SA[18] and Kosaido Shoji.[19]

In the summer of 2008, Bic launched the Bic Phone, marketed primarily in France and Belgium. It was advertised as a ready-to-use phone with one hour of communication and integrated SIM card and charged battery. The SIM card came loaded with 10 minutes of prepaid calls.[20]

In December 2015, BIC acquired 100 percent ownership in Cello Writing, India, and the company was renamed as "BIC Cello (India)".[21] Cello was founded in 1995 and, as of December 2015, is India's largest manufacturer and distributor of writing instruments.[22] In 2019 BIC inaugurated a new facility located in Nairobi, Kenya, which serves the East Africa region.[23] As of May 2021, BIC has over 25 factories around the world.[5] BIC's global headquarters remains in Clichy, outside of Paris, France. Its U.S. headquarters are in Shelton, Connecticut.[24]

In 2018, BIC introduced a new line of temporary tattoo markers called BodyMark by BIC.[25] Soon after, in 2019, Bic launched the Made For You grooming line, a line of shaving products without gender labels.[26]

In 2020, BIC purchased Djeep, a manufacturer of high-end and personalized lighters. The acquisition allowed Bic to expand its customizable lighter range.[27] That same year, Bic acquired Rocketbook, a smart reusable notebook brand in the U.S., in order to bring together analogue and digital writing.[28]

Among the eco-friendly products introduced in 2021 as part of the BIC ReVolution product line includes three ballpoint pen products, including one made of 73% recycled ocean plastic,[29] mechanical pencils made of 65% recycled plastic,[30] permanent markers made of 51% recycled plastic, as well as correction tape made of 56% recycled plastic.[29]

In May 2021, BIC launched an ad campaign featuring Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg to promote their new EZ Reach lighter.[31]

In January 2022, BIC acquired Inkbox, a Canadian semi-permanent tattoo brand, for $US65 million.[32] Soon after, in August of 2022, BIC also acquired Tattly, a company that produces high-quality temporary tattoos designed by artists.[33] In 2023, BIC launched EasyRinse, a razor with the first-of-its-kind reverse blade design and patented anti-clog technology.[34]

Bic's earliest lighters were mentioned in 1972 by Time as test marketed disposable lighters with a lifespan of 3,000 lights.[35] The following year, Bic's lighters were commercially introduced in order to compete with Gillette's Cricket lighters.[36] These lighters, made using plastic,[37] initially had only five colours,[38] but they were competitively sold at a low price, which ultimately led to Gillette leaving the lighter market. At the time, Bic lighters accounted for around 65% of disposable lighter sales,[35] and they still continue to be cheap and popular.[39] Bic operates a factory specifically for manufacturing lighters in Redon, made up of 400 employees who produce 750 million lighters yearly.[40]

A single-blade Bic razor

During the 1980s, Bic shaving products reached $US52 million in sales and had 22.4% of the market.[41] In 1981, Bic began a subsidiary called Bic Sport, which manufactured and sold water sports products.[42] Bic announced the sale of Bic Sport to the Estonian company Tahe Outdoor in 2019.[43]

In 1989, Bic attempted further product diversification with the introduction of pocket-sized perfume spritzers. The perfumes were withdrawn in 1991.[44]

Bic's shaving portfolio expanded throughout the 1990s and 2000s, adding the Soleil, a brand of razors for women, in 2004, and increasing the number of blades until the Flex 5 launched, with five blades, in January 2015 in the United States.[45][46]

The corporate logo comprises two parts; a rhomboid with curved corners, left and right sides angled upward and containing the letters "BiC" with "i" the only one in lower case, and the Bic Boy to its left. The rhomboid, which debuted in 1950 to coincide with the launch of the Bic Cristal, was originally red with white letters. The font of the letters remains unchanged. The Bic Boy is described on the corporation's website as "a schoolboy, with a head in the shape of a ball, holding a pen behind his back." The ball is the tungsten carbide one that was the key feature in Bic's new ballpoint pens in 1960. The schoolboy was designed by Raymond Savignac who also developed the product's "Nouvelle Bille" (new ballpoint) advertising campaign, which was intended to attract the attention of children. When the Bic Boy was added to the left of the rhomboid one year later in 1961, both changed to the newly adopted official corporate colour of orange (Pantone 1235C).[53][54]