“The fit between the influencer and the Visit Lahti brand was perfect.”
July 8, 2025
When influencer marketing options are endless, decisions can no longer be made based on gut feeling alone.
Influencer marketing is now part of almost every marketer’s toolkit. Yet many marketing decision-makers face a familiar challenge: there is a huge number of influencers and agencies available, but the most important question remains: which influencer works for us and how can the choice be validated?
Heidi Painilainen, who leads marketing at Visit Lahti, recognizes this challenge from her day-to-day work. The team had prior experience with several influencer campaigns, but results had been inconsistent. Some campaigns used tightly defined themes and influencers of varying sizes, yet overall performance lacked clarity. Reach and engagement were not easily predictable.
“For us, the most important thing was that the influencer’s values match ours and that there is an idea behind it. Not just visibility, but content that genuinely speaks to the audience“, says Heidi Painilainen
“For us, the most important thing was that the influencer’s values match ours and that there is an idea behind it. Not just visibility, but content that genuinely speaks to the audience,” says Heidi Painilainen.
Visit Lahti wanted a campaign that stands out from traditional travel advertising and feels genuinely Lahti. They wanted to combine creativity and effectiveness in a way that holds up to scrutiny.
Luota AI made influencer selection easy, and the results spoke for themselves
Luota Agency approached Visit Lahti with a ready proposal backed by careful groundwork. The compatibility between influencer and brand, content potential, and possible risks had been analyzed in advance using the Luota AI tool.
Absolutely, we need to find the budget for this,” notes Heidi Painilainen.
The campaign was planned on a tight schedule, but the process remained clear. Visit Lahti gave Eve free hands to create content in her own style.
“There was a little nervousness waiting to see what we would get, because we only gave a bunch of ideas and a lot of freedom. But the end result exceeded all expectations. It was a perfect package.”
When influencer selection is based on data and brand compatibility, there’s no need to worry about the campaign outcome.
Luota Agency’s approach is based on analyzed data and compatibility, and it shows in the results. The campaign was not a random experiment but a package that also worked in practice.
“Thank you for bringing this mother character to Lahti. Data clearly works, and this was not shooting in the dark. The compatibility between influencer and brand was perfect,” says Heidi Painilainen.
Cost-effectiveness confirmed the success from a numbers perspective. Influencer marketing CPM can easily rise to 50 euros, even hundreds of euros, and few question it. In this campaign, CPM stayed around 8 euros, delivering excellent influencer marketing results.
“When we approach a client with an influencer-led proposal, we have done our homework,” says Veera Kansanaho, Luota Agency’s Senior Account Executive.
The proposal centered on influencer Eve Kulmala, whose previous viral content about the “mother character” had already attracted attention. When Veera presented the idea to the client and justified its timeliness, viral potential, and compatibility, the decision was made quickly.
“When influencer selection is made based on data and brand compatibility, there’s no need to guess, and you don’t have to be embarrassed when sending the campaign report. Data creates content that makes an impact,” says Janika Tommila, Luota Agency’s Marketing Director and Co-Founder.
The campaign created a phenomenon and the metrics confirmed it
After publication, the comment section filled with spontaneous feedback. Followers shared their own Lahti experiences, tagged their friends, and continued the humor Eve started. The content began to live its own life, and the media noticed.
The campaign did not remain visible only to the influencer’s followers. It went viral and quickly gathered over half a million views organically.
“We have received a huge amount of positive attention and comments through this collaboration. The conversation has been purely positive”, says Heidi Painilainen.
Because we love numbers to back up the words, here are all the campaign metrics
All figures were achieved without sponsorship or paid advertising, meaning these are purely organic numbers.
| Metric | Result | What does the result tell us? |
|---|---|---|
| Views | 565 000 | How many views the post received. Result extremely high, over 10x the influencer’s follower count. |
| Likes | 30 100 | How many users liked the content. The number indicates good appeal and that the content sparked a reaction. |
| Comments | 339 | This many people stopped to comment, indicating strong emotion and sparked conversation. |
| Total engagements | 34 345 | All reactions the post received. |
| Engagement rate (followers) | 60,76% | How many of the influencer’s own followers engaged with the content. Exceptionally high result, as the industry average is only about 2–3%. |
| Engagement rate (views) | 5,91 % | How many of those who saw the content also reacted. Over 5% is an excellent result and shows content interest. |
| CPE (€/engagement) | 0,17 € | How much one reaction cost. This number is excellent, as the typical industry level is €0.50–1.00. |
| CPM (€/1000 views) | 8,83 € | Price per thousand views. Very cost-effective, as CPM stays well below Finland’s typical level (€20–60). |
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