Over 500,000 people in the UK live with Crohn’s or Colitis, the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), yet awareness of these lifelong conditions remains low — delaying diagnosis and treatment. We partnered with Crohn’s & Colitis UK, a leading UK health charity, that is on a mission to improve diagnosis and treatment for those affected by the conditions.

We worked together to create a public health campaign that encourages 18-34-year-olds across the UK to check for Crohn’s & Colitis and is supported by a symptom checker that guides people along their diagnosis journey.

Audience research from Crohn’s & Colitis UK highlighted a misconception that you have to be severely ill to have Crohn’s or Colitis. And a culture of coping is made worse by misinformation on the internet, which results in unverified treatments and people not speaking to their GPs.

This led to our campaign idea: “Cut the Crap. Check for Crohn’s or Colitis.” Just as Crohn’s or Colitis disrupts everyday life, we disrupt the symptoms with frantic toilet paper visuals. Because when you are always thinking about the closest toilet, everything becomes a challenge.

The campaign has a simple call to action; to check for Crohn’s & Colitis by completing the symptom checker.

Results surpassed expectations: within weeks, over 16,000 people checked for Crohn’s & Colitis via the symptom checker. It has now helped over 250,000 people check their symptoms of Crohn’s or Colitis—giving them the diagnosis they’d been waiting far too long for and putting them on the path for treatment.