 That year Bic won the French "Oscar de la publicité" award for advertising.In 1953 advertising executive Pierre Guichenné advised Bich to shorten his family name to Bic as an easy-to-remember, globally adaptable tradename for the pen, which fit in with product branding trends of the post-war era.Early Bic advertisements in France referred to the Cristal as the "Atomic pen".