Zippo ZipLight

With antismoking forces gaining steam in the United States, Zippo came up in 1995 with a creative way to keep its brand strong. It introduced the ZipLight pocket flashlight, which was simply a traditional lighter casing with a replaceable battery pack inside. Zippo spent $500,000 on a television advertising campaign to launch this new product, one of its largest campaigns ever.

The Zippo brand, prematurely declared dead by USA Today in 1989, was clearly alive and well and seemed as ubiquitous as ever. Revenues for 1996 were estimated to have reached a record $150 million. The company was now producing 80,000 lighters a day, and the 300 millionth Zippo lighter rolled off the assembly line that year. One year later, the company opened the Zippo/Case Visitors Center to replace the previous Family Store and Museum. The new visitors center encompassed the Zippo/Case Museum and the Zippo/Case Store and also offered visitors a chance to view repair technicians practicing their craft in the Zippo Repair Clinic.

Unfortunately for the company, 1996 turned out to be a peak year, as sales dropped off in the late 1990s and into the new century. Zippo's diversification drive, including the heavily promoted ZipLight, never produced any big winners, and even the push into the collectibles market, while meeting with the approval of many customers, failed to nudge sales higher.



The first 1500 ZipLights produced were distributed amongst Zippo's employees in year 1995 for them to use and evaluate. Below are more photos of the ZipLight for employees.





Below shows a blister pack for ZipLight sold by one of Zippo's retailer in 1996




Some pictures from Zippo catalouges featuring ZipLights.






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