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Strategy   Business  |  Brand

A conversation about the sqround baby bottle that revolutionised an industry

All about Hegen

A brand loved by parents the world over. How did it start?

Yes! The beginning. At the time, the founder was a behind-the-scenes baby bottle manufacturer ready to build her brand. And she started by wanting to know what real moms needed.


We did ethnographic research to understand nursing moms in different contexts, countries, and cultures. We discovered many struggled with bottles with inconvenient seals and clumsy shapes, jerry-rigging different brands for various needs.

It sounds like bottles made things even more complicated.

Exactly. A lot of frustration there. Parents didn’t want to waste precious breast milk through expressing, storing, and feeding. Then what do you do with the bottles when breastfeeding is over? Parents wanted efficiency.

What happened next?

Based on these insights, the founder worked with an industrial design team to prioritise the features now synonymous with the brand: square-round bottles, off-centre teats, the Press-to-Close, Twist-to-Open technology, and the Express-Store-Feed system.

It quickly became obvious that the market lacked a brand that supported the breastfeeding journey in a real way.

How long did R&D take?

About five years. Yes, a while. But in the end, the results spoke for themselves: mom or dad could carry the baby with one hand and fix a bottle with the other, with minimal fuss and no spills. It sounds simple, but these things matter when you’re fixing a bottle half-asleep at 3 in the morning.

I can imagine.

Plus, the bottles were stackable, microwaveable, and easy to clean—it was a win on so many levels.

Speaking of wins, Hegen’s branding— so strong, recognisable, iconic. Could you talk about that?

Absolutely. The brand had to be design-forward in its products and also in communications and marketing.

During the initial research phase, we got strong, positive responses to breastfeeding advocates who felt real and sounded authentic from both mothers and healthcare professionals. It quickly became obvious that the market lacked a brand that supported the breastfeeding journey in a real way.

We developed a face and voice for Hegen, that of an authentic companion through the breastfeeding journey.

How did you solve this?

We developed a face and voice for Hegen, that of an authentic companion through the breastfeeding journey. Campaigns featured nursing moms’ tips and experiences—starting with the founder’s own story as a mother of four and breastfeeding advocate.

We identified mom-fluencer bloggers and their communities and created a platform for the real mom stories that now define the Hegen brand.

And how well it all worked together.

The market seems to think so. Hegen is one of the most in-demand baby bottle brands on the market. It ranked no 2 in China’s TMall 11.11.2018 sales and sold 2 million bottles in 2018 alone.

With award after award—the prestigious Good Design Award in Japan and Good Design Singapore—and a global network of sales offices in place, demand continues to pour in from around the world and shows no signs of slowing.

Any last thoughts?

This was a collaborative journey to be proud of, working closely with a founder with vision. We consider it our biggest achievement how the work helps parents everywhere— answering real needs and creating real impact on real lives.

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