syndicate of influence for whom and how it works

Influencer and content creator: indeed, new professions to be accompanied by a special professional association. Does Chiara Ferragni need a union? Probably not, but the launch of Assoinfluencer is a fact.

It is the first Italian association in the sector, included in the list of professional associations of the Ministry of Economic Development. Assoinfluencer aims to represent and protect the instances and interests of influencers and content creators. An “army” of 350,000 people in Italy alone. The market value that their activities generate is around 280 million euros, according to some analyses.

Photo Twitter @fps_agency

Influencer marketing is a rapidly growing industry, worth $14 billion worldwide. A figure that has tripled in just 5 years. Also in Italy, the market is evolving rapidly and registering a value of + 15% in 2021 compared to the previous year (DeRev Lab elaboration). In short, a now mature sector for a union, that of influencers. According to the data presented in the Brand & Marketer report of the National Influencer Marketing Observatory (Onim), more than 50% of Italian companies have activated advertising campaigns of this type (IM – Influencer Marketing) in 2021.

Influencers, who I am

It is an activity that serves to support, on the one hand, and to regulate, on the other, this growing professional category, which is still not legally protected. Two lawyers, Jacopo Ierussi and Valentina Salonia, gave birth to Assoinfluencer. The association took its first steps at the institutional level in 2018 but it is now that it is about to launch its membership campaign, supplemented by membership.

Chiara Ferragni. Photo Ansa / Mourad Balti Touati

This is the first union that represents the various professional figures recognizable as influencers and content creators. They range from youtubers to podcasters, streamers to instagrammers and all the way to cyber-athletes. “The influencer is a new figure that changes as quickly as the media world” explains Jacopo Ierussi, founder and president of Assoinfluencer. “Creators can be artists and entrepreneurs, athletes and broadcasters, but they are always professionals, able to produce value through specific skills and tools. And as professionals, in a still unregulated market, what has been missing until now is precisely a reality that would protect their rights and interests”.

Marketing and digital economy

These are the reasons for the birth of Assoinfluencer “created precisely to meet this need”. “With the creation of the professional association – it is explained in a note – for the first time in Italy, designers have their own trade union association. As proof of the growing recognition of their professionalism and their role in the world of communication and marketing. “This area of ​​the digital economy not only is not yet addressed by specific legislation both in terms of taxation and remuneration” but often sees its actors at the service of an unclear and transparent legal framework, in the construction of which the association intends to involve them.”

Khaby Lame. Photo Ansa / Ettore Ferrari