In French influencer marketing, where creative flair often outpaces measurable impact, Raela Aldea wants to prove that structure can be just as powerful as style. Having left Paris to join 18h08, a rising Marseille-based influence agency, she embarked on a mission to redefine what it means to build a company where creativity and accountability coexist.

“Our ambition for 2027 is to be among the top five agencies in France,” Raela says. “We want to be known as champions of the balance between creativity and accountability. In 2025, 18h08 has already achieved over €1.5 million revenues. For us, structure isn’t a constraint, it’s how creativity scales profitably.”

Founded by Alexis Duvernoy and Hugo Budillon, 18h08 began as a retail discount app before becoming a full-service influencer marketing agency. Raela joined as Managing Director in September, bringing with her a decade of working with global brands in media and communications, from ZenithOptimedia to Bauer Media and, most recently, Pulse Advertising France, as well as a clear vision for sustainable growth.

“I wanted to leave Paris because I grew up there all my life,” she explains. “Quality of life was no longer linked to Paris. When I saw the opportunity in Marseille, I said, ‘Why not?’”

Now, from the south of France, Raela is steering 18h08 toward a new phase of expansion that is grounded in strategy, structure, and impact-driven influence.

Making Sense of Influence

18h08’s guiding tagline, “Making sense of influence,” is more than a slogan. It’s a strategy, and for Raela, making sense means merging structure with storytelling.

“We create influence that drives impact,” she explains. “We bridge creativity and structure by finding the right influencer, with the right concept, at the right price, and the right strategy.”

Four pillars form the core of 18h08’s process: relevance, concept, cost, and strategy, all driven by one essential force: creativity. “For us, creativity isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a must,” Raela notes. “But without structure and measurement, creativity remains intuition. Campaigns begin with a detailed client brief and evolve through a collaborative audit-to-plan workflow. We want to be part of the client’s team, not just an external vendor.”

The agency’s services extend beyond traditional influencer campaigns to include content production, paid amplification, PR, and event strategy, operating across multiple industries, including fashion, beauty, food, retail, luxury, and even B2B, which is a sector many influencer firms overlook, according to Raela. In 2026, the company plans to adopt a more 360-degree approach with content production for brands and PR for events with influencers.

“We work with any kind of client,” she states. “From €10,000 budgets to €1 million. What matters is strategy. We even guide clients when they’re not ready for influence. That honesty builds trust.”

The Anatomy of Impactful Campaigns

Discussing campaign success, Raela is not keen on vanity metrics such as likes or shares. Instead, she focuses on impact.

“Every client ends up saying the same thing,” she says. “They want impact. Impact for their brand and impact for their audience. For example, with a retail client, combining influencer content, paid amplification, we generated a +38 % lift in purchase intent compared to their previous single-channel campaigns. That’s what we mean by ‘impact > reach.”

At 18h08, impact is measured through clear budgeting, EROI (Earned Return on Investment) tracking, and data planning. The agency uses a mix of proprietary evaluation frameworks and third-party tools, such as Favikon, Reech, and Kolsquare, to assess creators using both quantitative and qualitative standards.

“We start with data like engagement rate, impressions, CPM (Cost Per Mille), but then we bring in instinct,” she says. “A creator can have perfect data and still be a poor creative fit. You need both the science and the art.”

That dual approach extends to pricing transparency, a sensitive but crucial topic in the French market. “It’s important for credibility,” Raela says. “When we have long-term, loyal clients, we can be transparent about pricing, but we also need to protect our relationships with talent. It’s a balance.”

France’s Cultural Codes

Operating within France’s creator economy means understanding its cultural DNA, which Raela describes as elegant, restrained, and storytelling-driven. She believes that brands entering the French market often underestimate these nuances.

“Brands demand creativity and ROI (Return on Investment),” she explains. “They want storytelling that feels real, aligned with French culture codes that are subtle, elegant, and authentic.”

This creative sensitivity is what makes the French market distinct and sometimes slower to adopt global trends. “We are a little behind other countries because French brands are cautious,” Raela points out. “But that caution ensures quality.”

Regional diversity also plays a role. While Paris remains the epicenter of influencer culture, Raela believes there’s growing potential outside the capital. Still, finding high-performing local creators can be challenging.

“Even if an influencer is based in Marseille or Bordeaux, their followers are usually national,” she says. “So when brands want purely local campaigns, the data and creative fit become harder to align.”

From Visibility to Value

Raela sees the French influencer industry moving from visibility marketing to value marketing. “Brands want to know what influence actually delivers,” she emphasizes. “They want proof of sales, brand lift, or community growth.”

That shift has also given rise to what she calls “cross-canal formats,” i.e., campaigns that blend influencer content with UGC (user-generated content), paid social, public relations, and events.

“Cross-canal formats are winning,” she reveals. “That’s where the real ROI happens. On average, our cross-channel activations deliver a 25% to 40% higher ROAS than single-platform influencer campaigns. You use influencers for awareness, UGC for credibility, paid targeting for engagement, and events for emotional engagement. It’s 50/50 between creativity and performance.”

18h08 also tracks re-engagement metrics, measuring how often a creator collaborates with a brand across multiple campaigns. Long-term relationships, Raela argues, generate deeper trust and stronger brand equity.

“It’s not about one-shot posts anymore,” she notes. “Always-on campaigns with consistent ambassadors create real impact and credibility.”

Cultural Alignment

Despite its sophistication, France remains a challenging market for international brands. Raela points to one recurring mistake: brands that focus on conversion before awareness.

“You can’t convert if people don’t know your brand,” she says. “You need to enter by the right door. First awareness, then consideration, then conversion. Step by step.”

That approach defines her leadership philosophy. Educating clients about process, timing, and cultural alignment has become central to her work. “Our role as an agency is to guide and educate,” she says. “Influence marketing only works when it’s structured.”

Predictions for French Influence

Raela predicts that France will soon catch up to the UK in terms of influencer adoption and may even follow Asia’s trajectory in merging AI and live commerce.

“We are merging influence with AI in the fields of live shopping, in-app purchasing, and even integrations in gaming and streaming,” she says. “We tend to follow Asia, where influence is part of everything. We are in an era of creator media and not influencer marketing.”

Her enthusiasm is grounded in both professional ambition and personal motivation.

“What excites me the most is that we shape the next generation with influence marketing,” she says. “As a mother, I want to make sure we do it ethically, creatively, and with purpose.”

As she settles into her new role in Marseille, Raela remains focused on scaling 18h08 without losing the precision and ethics that define the agency’s identity.

“France will keep leading Europe in terms of ethics and quality,” she concludes. “That balance, between creativity and accountability cross-canal, is what defines 18h08 today. And that’s exactly how we’ll lead the next chapter of French influence.”

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