The concept of “sleeping in airports” is being taken to a new level at Finland’s Helsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL), where Ryan Zhu plans to live full time starting Oct. 10. Zhu, who hails from China, is slated to live in a tiny cabin inside the airport for almost a month, and will undergo the daily challenge of living in an airport, while also adjusting to the “Finnish way of life.”
HEL spokesperson Katja Siberg says “The entire airport personnel is waiting for Ryan Zhu’s arrival,” and looks forward to giving “him an unforgettable experience.”
This sounds to us like Ryan is going to have a better airport sleeping experience than most. Of course, Ryan is a noted Chinese actor and television personality, and his sleeping in airport experience is part of a “disruptive content marketing campaign” by the airport’s operator, Finavia.
The campaign—#LIFEINHEL—is a mix of reality TV, game shows and social media, and was designed to showcase Helsinki Airport as the “best airport in the world,” with the fastest connections between Asia and Europe. To its credit HEL has been receiving numerous accolades in recent years, including being named 5th best airport “for sleeping” in Sleeping in Airports’ 2016 survey.
(Stay tuned for our 2017 results to be published on October 15, 2017)
Ryan’s experiences will be broadcast daily on social media, and you can view the official #LIFEINHEL promotional video below. Sleeping in Airports looks forward to following Ryan’s adventures; however, we’d like to see a follow up in which Ryan tries living in one of our ranked “worst airports for overall experience.” We kid!
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