Leading Australian brands and media networks, Mastercard, Telstra, Woolworths, Nine, Australia Post, BIG W, Westpac, Thinkerbell, WPP, Atomic 212° and Publicis, have thrown their collective weight behind the launch of Inclusively Made Accreditation, establishing the country’s first whole-of-organisation operational standard for accessible content.

The Inclusively Made Accreditation establishes a first-of-its kind industry standard which independently recognises organisations that make disability inclusive content as standard practice across the content they produce. The new Accreditation sits separate to Inclusively Made’s industry leading certification, which will still be applied to standalone productions. Instead, the Accreditation acts as a formal endorsement of the whole organisation for sustained best practice.

The launch, marking a decisive commercial progression, was held at an industry roundtable at the Sydney Opera House. It dismantles the practice of treating accessibility as an optional add-on or a niche corporate social responsibility exercise reserved for specific campaigns.

The framework establishes an operational baseline across five core content streams – motion, static, audio, digital, and copy, with media planning and strategy woven throughout – giving marketing and business leaders a verified, repeatable process that embeds accessible production into everyday business rhythms without prohibitive budgets or production delays.

“Eighteen years ago, we saw there was no standard for what inclusion actually meant across production, so we built one,” said Genevieve Clay-Smith, co-founder of Inclusively Made. “Certification proved the mechanism works on individual projects, but inclusive content can no longer belong only to big campaigns. From a 15-second social video to an enterprise digital platform or a major television commercial, accessible production has run out of excuses. If an organisation is serious about inclusion, it has to be built into how they operate every single day. If you are serious about inclusive content, get accredited.”

Henry Smith, co-founder of Inclusively Made, added,“With the launch of the Inclusively Made Accreditation, there are no more excuses around making all content inclusive of people with disability. Inclusion can no longer be justified for a certain type of project. Every piece of content should be inclusive, whether motion, still, audio, digital or copy.”

The framework expands Inclusively Made from project-based production certification into an organisation-wide model. While standalone certification remains available to independently verify individual creative productions, accreditation reviews and validates how an entire organisation operates across the 8 Pillars of Inclusion.

Industry leaders backing the launch said embedding accessibility into everyday content practices was key to driving lasting change. Alex Sloane, vice president of marketing & communications, Australasia at Mastercard, stated, “Accessibility shouldn’t be something we think about at the end of the creative process. It should be considered from the start. Inclusively Made gives us a practical framework to build that thinking into how we create content, helping us make our communications and the industry more accessible to more people.” 

Margie Reid, CEO of Thinkerbell, added, “Removing operational friction is how you make inclusion stick across fast-moving agency campaigns. Accreditation gives creative and production teams a clear, repeatable standard so accessible work happens automatically rather than as an afterthought.”

How Accreditation works

The process for accreditation is simple: one call, a clear roadmap and inclusion training for the team. Accreditation provides chief marketing officers, brand leaders, and procurement heads with an independently audited benchmark conducted by teams of people with and without disability. The five-stage pathway includes:

1. Assessment Call: Inclusively Made audits the company’s content operations and existing output to establish its baseline benchmark score.
2. Roadmap to Accreditation: The organisation receives a tailored action plan with clear milestones designed to close operational gaps across all five content streams.
3. Inclusive Content Training: One structured masterclass built around the company’s specific content outputs.
4. Accreditation Awarded: Upon meeting its operational baseline score, the organisation is awarded Accreditation and licence to display the Accredited Inclusively Made trust badge across its enterprise communications.
5. Annual Audit: The business completes an annual review against the 8 Pillars of Inclusion to verify continued progress, set new annual benchmarks, and retain accredited status.

Every organisation producing content can now be involved and initiate their assessment at inclusivelymade.com.