“Influence is not just what we’ve seen,” insists Carine Fernandez, head of the Point d’Orgue influencer agency. The latter is one of the seven influence marketing agencies that announced on Wednesday the creation of a professional federation: the Union of Influencers and Content Creators (Umicc).
The agencies in question are Smile Conseil, Bump, Follow, Point d’Orgue, Reech, Influence4You and Sputnik, which represent more than a hundred influencers, including Squeezie (creator of Bump), Paola Lct or EnjoyPhoenix.
The idea of creating a professional federation arose on the sidelines of the round table led by Bercy in December on influence, in order to discuss, among other things, the opportunity to legislate in this sector. “We realized that we could talk and that we had the same ideas,” explains Carine Fernández, interim president of Umicc.
“More ethics and responsibility”
After the strong media repercussion that the sector has received in 2022 regarding the scams promoted by certain influencers, Umicc wants to “make it known that the actors in the sector want to move towards greater ethics and responsibility”, develops its president.
The federation wants to “establish a single channel for discussion with public authorities”, “represent the sector before public opinion”, allow self-regulation of the sector and propose “necessary” reforms and give access to information to influencers who sometimes do not they do. ignore their rights and duties.
Another proposal to increase the legitimacy of this reviled sector: the establishment of a “creative label”, obtained after joining the Umicc and passing the certificate of responsible influence of the Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority (ARPP). The main contribution of the “label” compared to the ARPP certificate, issued after training on the legal and ethical framework of the profession, is that it shows, according to the Umicc, the recognition of peers.
Tax resident influencers in Europe
According to Umicc, 30 “market players” have applied for membership and 100 content creators – the overwhelming majority of which are agency members at their initiative – have “expressed their desire to join the federation.” This membership is subject to the approval of an executive council and a general assembly. It is also conditioned to a point that is not a detail: the influencer in question must be a tax resident in Europe, which excludes influencers based in Dubai.
The message is clear: to restore the influencer’s image, reality TV influencers, some of whom live in Dubai, are not necessarily welcome. As Carine Fernández points out, “in principle, anyone can express their desire to join Umicc”, but “if we take the example of Shauna Events, as it stands, [une adhésion] it would be incompatible with the rules of procedure.” Magali Berdah’s agency is also excluded from government-organized discussions for the time being.
The working groups in Bercy continue this month in parallel with a public consultation launched by the Ministry of the Economy. Umicc makes common proposals there, including drafting a legal definition of content creator and implementing educational videos in partnership with the state on current rules for influencers. The different works carried out by the Government should lead to a public presentation in March with an announcement of the measures adopted.
Source: BFM TV
