As guinea pigs for the British Gut project, the twins had discovered that whilst their DNA is 100% the same, their guts actually only shared 40% of the same microbes.

In short: every gut is unique.

With that insight, we knew our identity had to be the same: ever on the move and different every time you look at it – just like our guts. But at the same time, we needed to balance a complex idea with The Gut Stuff’s myth-busting, down-to-earth and inclusive approach to gut health.

We found the perfect medium to help their message blow up: bright pink balloons. Approachable, adaptable and abstract enough to make talking sticky subjects easy, our idea was the spark for an identity smart enough to appeal to The Mac Twins’ young and wellness-savvy core audience, but with the punch to translate for the general public and corporate partners alike.

Bright pink balloons.

A design language that we could twist and mould and poke and prod as we pleased, our balloon palette opened the door to an array of executions big and small.

It started though, with the logo itself. A rubbery tangle of 3D guts, it summed up our subject matter with ease and – crucially for our purposes – just won’t stay still.

Designed with digital top-of-mind, the balloon was a gift for animation, endlessly creating quirky new graphics and idents – from DNA strands and brains, to knifes and forks – allowing The Gut Stuff to bring anything within the vast plane of gut health into their world.

At the same time though, for pop-up events and supper clubs, we had an eye-catching physical opportunity too, which came to life in everything from print ads to place settings, giving the brand real impact wherever it appears.

The Gut Stuff is on a mission to take gut health to the masses and the engagement the brand has experienced to date is testament to this.

Social media followers have been growing rapidly with high audience engagement levels achieved - average percentage increase of followers per week is between 10-20%, rising to 105% during weeks with PR activity. On average, the brand achieves 41,360 impressions on a weekly basis.

On top of this, the Gut Stuff website is now 9th in the world when searching “the gut” - from organic growth alone. This demonstrates how the brand is establishing itself in the world of gut health and supporting the growth of the category as a whole.

The Gut Stuff is launching an e-commerce shop in May 2018, demonstrating once more how it has established its credentials within gut health.

Guts have never been so important.

But while new research reveals more and more about the link between our gut health and general wellbeing everyday, the facts are being lost amidst the fads.

Luckily, The Gut Stuff is here to get to the bottom of it.

First founded by identical DJs The Mac Twins as a YouTube channel, The Gut Stuff’s mission in life is to make gut health digestible, simplifying the science so that we can all get to know our insides inside out.

The power of that approach has already made a splash, with The Gut Stuff growing into a full-blown business. So with a website, partnerships and supper clubs on their plates, it was time for them to up their branding game. Which is where we came in.

The task? A brand identity as playful and no-nonsense as the twins themselves.