BIC: 4-Color Pen
BIC is a family-owned company and a world leader in stationery, lighters, and shavers. For 75 years, BIC has honored the tradition of providing high-quality, simple, inventive and reliable choices for everyone, everywhere, every time.
The Mission
The BIC® 4-Color pen is a classic favorite ballpoint pen that loads and retracts with the flick of a finger. Combining the colors black, red, blue, and green in one singular pen barrel, the pen is a convenient, fun, and creative choice for everyone.
BIC wanted to create witty and informative 6-15 second videos, intended for social viewing, that would create awareness, generate affinity, and drive the purchase of BIC’s 4-Color Retractable Ballpoint Pen in domestic markets. The videos needed to show how the pen helps keep you organized, gives you a sense of accomplishment, and helps you express your personal creativity with endless possibilities.
Our approach
The BIC team was interested in collecting as many different stories they could, from a variety of filmmakers all across the country. They specifically wanted to target consumers age 13+, who were looking to be creative and express themselves. Typical usage of the 4-Color pen is strong among students and professionals, especially those who search for order so they can feel accomplished and have less to worry about.
To accommodate, Zooppa established an open project available to our US-based network of creatives. In order to make sure the target demographic was reached, Zooppa also designated 3-winning placements be offered only to students. This way, the creators of the videos would be the target consumers themselves.
BIC was provided with a dedicated Zooppa project manager who supported them throughout the production process. The project manager was tasked with providing the client with bi-weekly updates, streamlining all communication as well as handling the revisions and payments to winning filmmakers.
The results
After being live for six weeks on Zooppa.com, the project closed with a total of 117 submissions from 84 creatives. The videos ranged from CGI animations and classroom stories, to historic flashbacks and enchanting illustrations. BIC purchased seven videos, three of which were done by students at Zooppa-Partner Schools. To date, BIC has used the videos across social and digital channels and is considering taking the most popular spots to broadcast. After the success of the project, BIC came back and asked Zooppa to run another open project for the launch of their BodyMark by BIC Temporary Tattoo Markers.
