Marcel Bich

Originally from Val d'Aoste, Marcel Bich was born in Turin (Italy) on July 29, 1914, where he spent his early child-hood before moving to Spain and then to France with his parents. He became a French citizen in 1932 and pursued his studies in law.

In 1944, Marcel Bich and his associate Edouard Buffard settled in Clichy (France) and began to manufacture parts for writing instruments in their factory PPA (Porte-plume, Porte-mines et Accessoires).

In 1950, his visionary spirit led him to become interested in the ball point pen, for which he foresaw enormous potential. Marcel Bich acquired a patent from the Hungarian Laszlo Biro for the ball point pen and did everything to find the ideal ink formula and the perfect fitting between ball and ink, using machines of extreme precision from Swiss clock making. He put all his efforts into this product and launched his own ballpoint pen, the BIC® Cristal® pen, based on his unassailable philosophy of offering the consumer superihe. In 1953, the BIC Company is created.To market the BIC® Cristal® ballpoint pen, Marcel Bich used a strategy based on audacious and massive advertising campaigns, like the ones created by Raymond Savignac, that contributed to strong sales, first in France, then internationally: in Italy in 1954, in Brazil starting in 1956, in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Oceania in 1957, then in the United States as of 1958, in Africa and the Middle East in the 60's.