Developing awareness of gut health in Australia

The Gut Foundation is a not for profit organisation specialising in education and research into all aspects of gastrointestinal and digestive health, for both the public and fellow medical practitioners. The Gut Foundation works with researchers and health professionals all over Australia to build awareness, better community understanding, educate, improve screening for digestive diseases, improve standards in practice and research, and to engage in and encourage scientific research in relation to digestive disease.

On behalf of The Gut Foundation, Evolved Thinking, in partnership with The Brand Agency and Alchemy Research & Insight, embarked on a comprehensive project to investigate Australians' perspectives and attitudes towards gut health issues and their perceptions of The Gut Foundation brand. This initiative aimed to evaluate the overall importance of gut health in the eyes of Australians, enhance The Gut Foundation's public image, and devise innovative approaches to foster conversation and promote awareness of gut health across the nation.

Gut health is a topic that many Australians don’t feel comfortable talking about with others. Given the private nature of this topic, Evolved Thinking integrated their Conversational AI chatbot, EVE, to engage in in-depth conversations with respondents about their feelings towards gut health and its overall significance in their lives. Leveraging advanced text analytics, we analysed over 1,000 EVE conversations to understand key themes and trends mentioned by respondents.

This research revealed that public understanding of gut health and why it matters was quite low among Australians, but that most are ready to discuss gut health with their GP. The Gut Foundation has been able to deepen their understanding of public sentiment towards gut health, promote better gut health practices, and further refine their brand strategy. The results have informed messaging for Gut Foundation campaigns and provided the foundation with a baseline for all future brand awareness initiatives.