Serviceplan’s campaign for Herconomy’s Breastmilk Money turns breastfeeding into a financial asset

Lower breastfeeding rates among Nigerian mothers can be attributed to several longstanding interconnected factors, including cultural beliefs and practices, socio-economic factors, healthcare access and education, as well as the aggressive, predatory marketing of formula milk and baby foods by Western food and drink processing corporations. Addressing these issues is not a simple task, requiring comprehensive strategies that include education, support, healthcare, and policies promoting breastfeeding as the optimal feeding option for infants. Serviceplan Innovation – a unit within the advertising and communication agency Serviceplan – has partnered with Nigerian financial platform Herconomy to create a campaign for their product ‘Breastmilk Money’ – an innovative banking solution that transforms the act of breastfeeding into savings by accruing interest on funds saved from not purchasing formula. This initiative aims not only to empower women in their decision to breastfeed but also to foster their financial independence.

The visual identity of the campaign, which translates the essence of breastfeeding into digital design, is based on thorough research, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. “We reviewed detailed reports from organisations like WHO and UNICEF to understand the scale of the issue,” explains Art Director Rohil Borole. “In a nutshell, only 34 per cent of mothers in Nigeria exclusively breastfeed, and formula can consume up to a third of a family’s monthly income.”

Serviceplan Innovation also assembled a team of women, including lactation consultants, journalists, photographers, and mothers, who shaped the work with their expertise and lived experiences. “One standout contribution came from journalist and mother Ogechi Ekeanyanwu,” Borole continues. “She wrote an editorial for Breastmilk Money that blends that personal insight with objective facts. Her article is paired with powerful photography by artists like Yagazie Emezi and dynamic data visuals that bring the issue to life.”

Every element of the identity and the campaign has been designed to reflect both the emotional and scientific sides of breastfeeding, aligning with the dualistic nature of Breastmilk Money, which works across breastfeeding and banking. “Breastfeeding is deeply human. It is intimate, messy, and full of emotion. On the other hand, banking is usually the opposite. It feels cold, structured, and distant,” says Borole. “We wanted to make something that we honoured both the emotional depth of motherhood and the practical implications of both infant nutrition and financial independence.”

Breastmilk, according to Art Director Camille Nizet, guided every single creative decision, from motion to typography, all the way through to the colour palette, using real-life colours. “Most people don’t realise that breastmilk naturally comes in a wide range of colours,” she tells us. “White, green, blue, yellow, and orange are all perfectly normal and reflect things like the mother’s diet or stage of lactation. In Nigeria, there is a lot of misinformation about breastfeeding. We wanted to change that and make breastmilk the hero of the story. It is natural, nutritious, and when you look closely, really beautiful.”

For the identity’s workmark, Exposure, a variable font designed by Federico Parra Barrios from 205TF, was the perfect choice “because it behaves like liquid,” where the letterforms almost melt into one another. “It gave the typography a flowing, milk-like quality that connected visually with the rest of our design.”

In contrast, they used SF Pro as the secondary typeface, mainly for the banking interfaces. “It follows Apple’s design guidelines and added a clean, trusted layer to the experience,” adds Borole. “It helped balance the emotional storytelling with the more functional parts of the app.”

The campaign also utilises the symbol of a specially designed coin that represents the monetary value of breast milk. “If breastmilk is money, then why not design a coin to represent it?” notes Nizet. “It reminds mothers that breastmilk is not only powerful and nutritious but also valuable in real financial terms.”

The team developed an intuitive calculator within the Herconomy app to help mothers understand the financial impact of their feeding choices. “The calculator was crucial because every mother and baby is different. We needed something flexible but also simple. Motherhood is overwhelming enough, so we wanted the interface to be easy to use,” explains Nizet. After consulting with medical experts and lactation consultants, they refined the calculator to focus on three key inputs – the baby’s age, average appetite, and typical formula price range. The potential savings revealed by these calculations were significant, ranging from ₦982,820 to ₦9,117,474 over a two-year period, including interest. To ensure accessibility, the calculator was designed to accommodate mothers across all income levels, with adjustable deposit options to match changing circumstances.

The project’s commitment to clear communication extended to its data visualisation strategy. “One of our biggest findings during research was that misinformation is a major barrier to exclusive breastfeeding. So we knew early on that a website would be essential,” explains Borole. A radial grid system was developed to present diverse breastfeeding data in a clear and accessible format. “The data came in different formats, so we experimented with several ways to visualise it using this radial grid system,” adds Nizet. “In the end, we chose formats that were the most intuitive and visually engaging. It was kind of a puzzle to turn all this research into something people could understand at a glance.”

The team created various visual elements to make the UI engaging, culminating in a custom JavaScript particle simulation that rendered a fluid milk-like effect across devices. “It took time to get the texture and motion just right, and we worked hard to make sure it performed smoothly on all devices.”