BiC arrived in Mexico in 1973, but the business name with which it was registered in the Mexican market was not that, but ‘No Sabe Fallar SA De CV’, the same slogan with which it promotes all its products around the world.
Rafael Ramírez is the manager of the largest BiC plant in the world for writing products, located in the municipality of Cuautitlán de Izcalli, and told Expansión the story behind the slogan ‘ It doesn’t know how to fail’ and other secrets of the French company . In addition, the ‘BiC boy’ logo also hides some interesting meanings.
Mexican talent: from manufacturing to pure marketing
The BiC plant located in the State of Mexico produces about 5 million writing articles every day, which are exported to 47 countries around the world. Among these items is the Crystal Medium Point Ballpoint Pen, which was recognized as the best of its kind by Consumer Magazine in August.
Behind the huge scale of production there are three elements: technology, marketing and Mexican talent. This was corroborated during a visit to the BiC plant, where there are workers from Cuautitlán and the surrounding municipalities. What has been the contribution of Mexicans for the present and future of the company? Larger than suspected.
Mexican ideas, quality manufacturing
Rafael Ramírez, manager of the BiC plant in Cuautitlán Izcalli, gave a tour of the gears that make the midpoint possible and the enormous variety of inks that the company has.
One of the most fascinating machines, but whose name cannot be revealed, is at the same time one of the youngest. It has been in existence for four years and “it is the combination of the best of all worlds in BiC”, indicates Rafael Ramírez.
The best thing, specifies the engineer, is that this machine was devised by Mexicans and is capable of making hundreds of color combinations of barrels, points and 14 types of ink to make pens. At the same time, the machine is capable of counting, discarding, rectifying, packing and packing the products for their dispatch to the distribution and marketing centers.
The machine could be improved and emulated, to fortify BiC production in the world. And it is just proof of the Mexican talent that has manifested itself since the company arrived in Mexico. Well, it was in this country where, in addition, his most famous slogan emerged.
‘He doesn’t know how to fail’, how did the idea come about?
Rafael Ramírez, who is in charge of around 964 workers, shared the anecdote that gave rise to the BiC slogan .
According to legend, when the French company arrived in Mexico, in the 1970s, there was a law that did not allow proper names to be used as company names, that is, the brand could not be called Marcel Bich before the country’s commercial and tax authorities. .
Marcel Bich was co-founder of this global company and whose surname, without the letter ‘h’, gives the brand its name.
The problem then lay in finding a name, a business name, that contained BiC’s values, while at the same time having the power to stay in the minds of Mexican consumers.
On the day of the meeting to discuss this dilemma and with time running out, according to the Mexican engineer, there was someone who got up from the table and exclaimed: “We cannot fail!” “There it is”, another of those responsible for BiC’s arrival in Mexico told him, that’s the name and slogan they needed and that finally ended up in the ‘BiC, it doesn’t know how to fail’ that everyone knows.
The ‘BiC boy’ has a lot to say
The logo of the boy who seems to carry a pen with his hands behind his back also has some curiosities to tell. What do the BiC child parts mean?
Head. As you can see, BiC is written like this, with a lowercase ‘i’, and this is for a reason. The dot that crowns the ‘i’ is, in fact, the raw material of the company logo. This is so because the pens that Marchel Bich devised and that became popular in the world are the midpoint ones. The industrial innovation of the ‘Baron BiC’ consisted in placing a sphere of one millimeter, round and capable of turning freely and without spilling the ink on the paper.
Thus, the child’s head symbolizes the midpoint of the BiC crystal pens.
And what pen does the child carry? According to the engineer Rafael Ramírez, it is the M10 model of the brand, one of the most commercialized in France.
