Accelerating disability inclusion and innovation

Overview

The Valuable 500 is a collective of the top 500 CEOs and their companies putting disability on the business leadership agenda. Saffron partnered with the Valuable 500 to evolve their brand through an experience strategy that accelerates change. We designed a digital ecosystem of products and services that empowers interactions and boosts collaboration to help the Valuable 500 advance in their mission: To create a more inclusive society for over 1.3 billion people living with some form of disability.

Empowering disability: Bringing brand to life with a new identity

Saffron needed to bring the brand to life by translating the strategy and positioning of the Valuable 500. A brand that reflected the Valuable 500’s goal of eliminating the disability inequality crisis through business opportunity, whilst setting the strategic foundations to shape the entire experience going forward.

The brand moves away from the stereotypes of people with disability and reconsiders disability representation, with an identity that reflects the Valuable 500’s values: authenticity, tenaciousness, boldness and optimism. It is a brand geared towards sparking action and accelerating change, which has shaped the design of the experience, products, and services we have gone on to create.

Creating a collective business network: A human-centred approach to a community-led solution

With the focus on ending disability exclusion, our research showed that all parties needed to join forces in order to move from generating awareness to sparking action and accelerating change.

The challenge was to define an overarching and collaborative strategy for all members. The Valuable 500 brand needed to connect 500 leaders of the most powerful companies around the world, D&I teams, and people with disabilities to ultimately create an inspiring ecosystem capable of fostering inclusiveness.

Our strategic solution creates an interconnected and collective business network to advance disability inclusion. This network delivers against the following key challenges: to combat leadership silence in D&I matters, to listen to the disabled community, to make disability data available, to ensure inclusive representation in the media, and to help create products and services that are ultimately accessible.

All the team is absolutely wowed by the functionality and the vision Saffron was able to create.

Chloe Matharu T

The Valuable 500 CMO

How we delivered experience to spark action through the Valuable 500 platform

With a clear strategic approach rooted in experience, Saffron created a private digital work space where the Valuable 500 members can find all the tools needed to fast-track their disability inclusion journeys. The platform gives members the ability to build connections, share knowledge and ultimately accelerate change through access to resources, events and disability specialists.

In parallel, the public site for the Valuable 500 showcases the latest trends, news, and innovations around the world in the areas of disability and inclusion.


Outcome

The Valuable 500, with the digital ecosystem that Saffron has helped design, has the power to continue to impact the lives of 22 million employees: 500 companies that span 64 sectors in 41 countries, and 1.3 billion people living with disabilities across the world. After launching the new brand and ecosystem, the Valuable 500 were able to sign up Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others as Iconic Members of the collective. At the campaign launch alone, 80 million impressions were achieved, which coincided with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Across the Valuable 500 members, 81% of companies reported that they were better placed towards making progress in disability inclusion than a year ago. The Valuable 500 network, products, and services have become the first set of worldwide tools, information, and inspiration to support companies in their journey of putting disability on the leadership agenda.


Everything you do, you give it everything: your heart, passion and every inch. I know that we are lucky enough to be working with a world class team in ability, and an untouchable team in heart and imagination.

Caroline Casey

The Valuable 500 Founder

Creative partners

Throughout the project, Telescopic has been Saffron’s technical partner. Our creative partners and the talent who took part in the Valuable 500 photoshoot were David PD Hyde, Luke & Nik, Productions Inc and Zebedee Talent.

More about the V500 here.

Awards and recognition

Recipient of the inaugural Inclusive Design Award (Gold) at the BIMA Awards, 2022.