Representation-to-Relevance Reframe
Turn an excluded audience into a relevant product and a stronger business
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
This framework treats exclusion as both a human problem and a possible market blind spot. Start by identifying people who are present in the market but absent from the product's imagery, stories, or assumptions. Examine the inherited claim used to justify that absence, then compare it with the audience the product wants to reach. Redesign the product so those people can genuinely see themselves in it, and commit across the experience rather than relying on a single symbolic appearance. Enninful applied this logic to British Vogue after hearing that women of colour on covers would not sell. He broadened representation across race, age, shape, sexuality, and socioeconomic background, while treating commercial response as evidence that relevance and inclusion could reinforce each other.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO
Core principles
- 01A missing audience can signal a relevance gap rather than weak demand
- 02Representation should reflect the people a product wants to reach
- 03Inclusion and commercial performance do not have to conflict
- 04A meaningful change deserves full commitment rather than a token gesture
How to run it
- 1
Find the invisible audience
Identify groups who could value the product but do not see their lives or identities reflected in it.
Pro tip Look beyond one demographic dimension; Enninful considered race, age, shape, sexuality, and background.
Watch out Do not assume absence proves lack of demand.
- 2
Interrogate the inherited belief
State the convention that keeps the audience excluded and ask what evidence actually supports it.
Pro tip Separate a repeated industry saying from observed customer behaviour.
Watch out Do not present an untested convention as a market fact.
- 3
Define the people to reach
Describe the real audience the product should welcome and use that definition to guide editorial or product choices.
Pro tip Anchor the change in who is outside the product now, not in a vague diversity slogan.
- 4
Build representation into the product
Make the audience visible across the core experience so the change feels substantive rather than exceptional.
Pro tip Use multiple stories and perspectives instead of asking one person to represent an entire group.
Watch out A token appearance can preserve the old product while creating the impression of change.
- 5
Commit and measure
Release the change clearly, then observe audience reception and commercial performance rather than retreating in anticipation of criticism.
Pro tip Use results to update the assumption that originally limited the audience.
Watch out Do not claim one result proves a universal rule beyond the market tested.
In the wild
In his interview for British Vogue, Enninful proposed a more inclusive magazine for women who did not see themselves reflected in it. His first issue presented a broad picture of Britain, and he later cited the magazine's commercial success and an Oprah Winfrey cover selling out as evidence against the industry's claim that diversity was downmarket.
→ The magazine broadened representation while, in Enninful's account, remaining financially successful.
Common mistakes
Treating convention as evidence
A belief repeated across an industry can survive without being tested against the current audience.
Making inclusion cosmetic
A symbolic change does not solve the relevance gap if the wider product still signals that the audience is not for them.
Changing only halfway
Partial commitment can make both the strategic result and the market response impossible to judge cleanly.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for legacy brands whose customer representation no longer matches the people they could credibly serve.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when representation is used as surface decoration without changing who the product welcomes or serves.
From the transcript
“there was this notion in the fashion industry that black women all women of color on covers don't sell”
“who are the women out there that I wanted to reach and that's what I did”
“diversity sells”
From the episode
Editor Of Vogue (Edward Enninful OBE): How To Become No.1 In Your Industry Against All The Odds!