Finnish Social Media Influencer Joonas Pesonen will live in a hotel for a year – “This is the craziest thing I have ever done – luckily, my houseplants are moving with me!”

Joonas Pesonen, 30, (@pesojoonas), from Helsinki, was chosen as #YearinClarion ambassador for Clarion Hotels in Finland at the Matka Nordic Travel Fair today. Starting on February 1, 2019, he will live in the hotel for a whole year. Pesonen is the first ever influencer whose task will be to test how a hotel room functions as a home and how life in the midst of the hotel’s services feels. During this year, he will share his hotel life experiences on social media and participate in the development of the services and concepts of the hotel.

- We are excited about this completely new form of content marketing that breaks barriers and creates a unique opportunity for us to develop our services from the perspective of a person to whom the hotel is home. Joonas' responsible but at the same time humorous way of approaching the world is perfectly suited to Clarion's way of thinking and operating, states Area General Manager for Clarion Hotels Finland, Inari Lehtinen.

#YearinClarion ambassador Pesonen is especially known for having been a Snapchat trendsetter and for his Blog Awards Finland win in 2017 where he was chosen as Finland’s most positive influencer.

- Clarion and I share the same values; positive mindset, sustainability and transparency in all that we do. I want to create space and openness for diversity with my content. The courage to stand out and stand behind our own values speaks to both Clarion brand and myself. And of course, we share a love for comfortable hotel beds and connecting with people, explains Joonas Pesonen.

-This is the craziest thing I have ever done and of course I am excited. I am not looking for glamour – instead, I am expecting to find a real sense of community. I believe that this year-long project will create a completely different kind of credibility for how collaborations can look. Authenticity is essential because the hotel life will be present in my everyday life 24/7. And I will not give up my houseplants, Pesonen continues.

The #YearinClarion ambassador will call a room at the Clarion Hotel Helsinki or at the Clarion Hotel Helsinki Airport home for a year. During this year, the influencer ambassador will participate at hotel events, visit other Clarion hotels in the Nordics, and produce content from his experiences for both his own and Clarion's channels.

The ambassador will enjoy the comprehensive services of the Clarion Hotels every day of the year; he will start the morning with a hotel buffet breakfast and be able to forget doing housework and laundry for a year, all while dipping into the swimming pool over the rooftops of Helsinki after work.

With this trailblazing content marketing campaign, the Clarion Hotels want to showcase how a new kind of long-term influencer collaboration can be used to also develop services in the tourism industry. This brand-new way of leveraging influencer marketing has been developed in cooperation with Finland's leading influencer relations agency PING Helsinki.

- We are delighted that the open-minded attitude of Clarion's corporate culture makes it possible to realize even the wildest ideas. Influencer collaborations and service models we tested earlier now reach a completely new level with this project, Inna-Pirjetta Lahti, the founder of PING Helsinki affirms.

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Links to Joonas’ channels:

Instagram

Blog

Snapchat: @pesojoonas

See launch video and images here

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More Information:

Inari Lehtinen, Area General Manager, Clarion Hotel Helsinki +358 50 303 8560, Inari.lehtinen@choice.fi

Jaana Matikainen, General Manager, Clarion Hotel Helsinki Airport +358 50 388 1639 jaana.matikainen@choice.fi

Interviews with Joonas: Inna-Pirjetta Lahti, PING Helsinki + 358 503760824 inna@pinghelsinki.fi