Bic reviews dormant UK ad account

Razor and biro manufacturer Bic is reviewing its UK advertising business. The razor brand has not done any large-scale television advertising since 1999.

The incumbent agencies on the account, Endacott Marketing and Marketing Edge, have been invited to repitch for the business, along with four other agencies.

Emma Lawley, marketing manager for Bic stationery in the UK, says: “We are in the final stages of completing a review of our creative marketing agency roster. We expect to be in a position to announce our 2006 roster in a few weeks.”

Endacott and Marketing Edge both worked on recent launches from Bic, including this year’s Bic Comfort 3 – the triple-blade razor introduced to take on Gillette’s Mach 3 and Wilkinson Sword’s Extreme range.

The move followed the re-branding of its famous one-piece razor as Bic 1. The company ditched the classic Bic branding for its range, re-naming the single-blade product Bic 1 and the twin-bladed razor Bic 2.

In 2004 the company also launched its first range of writing products aimed at children. Bic Kids was designed to target three- to ten-year-olds and comprised pencils, crayons and felt- tip pens.

Bic was launched in 1945 by Marcel Bich, a production manager for a French ink manufacturer, to make fountain pens and mechanical lead pencils.

The company launched a ballpoint pen called BIC, a shortened version of Bich’s name, in 1950. It launched a cigarette lighter in 1973 and its iconic one-piece piece disposable razor in 1975.