Cross Tries Updating Its Image To Court Younger Generation Pen Maker Launches New Line To Recapture Youthful Cachet

Along with brides, diplomas and baseball, Cross pens were once a staple of June.

No young scholar, it seemed, could graduate from school without receiving the obligatory gift of a Century pen and pencil set made by A.T. Cross Co. of Lincoln, R.I.

But by the early 1990s, Cross pens had lost some of their youthful cachet. Instead of within the recesses of a baccalaureate’s gown, a Cross pen was more likely to turn up in the pocket of a blue suit worn by a middle-age executive.

In brief, the Cross Century had become the Bob Dole of pens: conservative, dependable and tested by time, but one unlikely to win raves from the MTV crowd.

To woo a younger generation that had grown up on 29-cent Bics and throwaway ballpoints, Cross began working last year with Boston ad agency Pagano Schenck & Kay to research, develop and market a new product line.

Officially launched this spring, the new line is called the Metropolis, and Cross marketing manager Bruce Willox uses words like “bold,” “contemporary” and “exciting” to describe it.

“Traditional,” not contemporary, is generally the word associated with the Century, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

With its slim lines, the Cross Century is “an American classic, an icon like the Coca-Cola bottle,” Willox says.

The early 1990s were not easy on this icon of ink. A recession hurt sales. On the fashion front, slim pens were partly eclipsed by the bulky Montblanc. Meanwhile, many young people were becoming e-mail literati. They expressed their views to on-line chat rooms, not on foolscap and paper.

Between 1991 and 1993, Cross saw annual sales drop to $165 million from $217 million. Looking to reverse that trend, Cross started introducing new lines to complement the Century.

One of the first new lines was the Townsend, a model with a thick girth and a Montblanc price tag.

Then came the Solo, targeted at the lower end of the market, and the Solo Classic. Between the Solo and a Townsend made of lapis lazuli, Cross covers price points between $12.50 and $350.

In between is the venerable Century, which ranges from $17.75 to $180. The Metropolis has a price range of $30 to $120.

So far, the strategy of offering pen lovers more options seems to be working. Last year, Cross sales rebounded to $191 million and it recorded profits of $13.4 million.

“They’re on the positive side of a turnaround,” says analyst Debra O’Shea of Barrington Research Associates.

Although Hill Holliday Connors Cosmopulos of Boston was its ad agency of record, Cross turned to Pagano Schenck when it began work on the Metropolis.

Five years ago, Pagano Schenck was a runner-up in an ad agency review that led to Cross’ choice of Hill Holliday.

Pagano Schenck didn’t have the winning pitch that day, but Cross apparently liked what it heard. Impressed by its early work for Metropolis, Cross named Pagano Schenck as its agency of record last month, replacing Hill Holliday.

Size may partly explain why Cross decided to switch.

According to industry estimates, Cross spends about $7 million a year on marketing, making it a small account for Hill Holliday, which had billings last year of $351 million.

For Pagano Schenck, with billings of about $35 million, someone with a $7 million marketing budget is a major client.

In publications such as Esquire, Vanity Fair and Wired, ads for Metropolis note: “No idea was ever born inside a shirt pocket” and “There’s work to be done.”

Both ads and pens use colors favored by artists Piet Mondrian and Edward Hopper, says Bob Pagano, president of Pagano Schenck. In terms of shapes and finish, the Metropolis looked to skyscraper skylines for inspiration.