In Europe in 1952, Marcel Bich was ready to introduce his new wonder: a clear-barreled, smooth-writing, non-leaky, inexpensive ballpoint pen he called the “Ballpoint Bic” an abbreviated version of his name.
When BIC pens first arrive on the American scene in 1959, consumers are quite skeptical, because so many inferior pens had been introduced in the U.S. market by other manufacturers. To overcome this, BIC creates an exciting national television campaign to tell consumers that this ballpoint pen, “Writes First Time, Every Time!”– and for only 29 cents