A game of Call of Duty followed by red wine in Tuscany – can hasan & partners Group CEO and CCO Eka Ruola organise our lives please? He enjoys biding his time in metaphorical, idyllic Italian paintings (with plenty of vino to boot), skipping hangovers for jogs in Cannes and chowing down on full English breakfasts. It’s not all bacon and grease when it comes to food though: Thursdays are set aside for traditional Finnish pea soup. 

Before we give it all away, check out Eka’s Essential List below.

Travel

o Place of birth: Turku, Finland.

o Hometown: Helsinki.

o Staycation: The island of Iso-Pukki in the archipelago of Turku.

o Vacation: Tuscany. I prefer to stay at least one week of the year in a painting – with red wine, lots of Amarone. And Finnish Lapland, up in the North – a magical place.

o Place of work: A kindergarten called hasan & partners Group.

Eka meditating in the snow in Saariselkä in the Finnish Lapland. Far up in the North

o Place of workout: Me, my sneakers and the world; the best run is along the Cannes Croisette during the Lions week, surprisingly without a hangover and bumping into hungover friends waking up on the beach.

o Mode of transport: DriveNow shareable car service.

o Miscellaneous Travel Essential: A crazy comedy movie on my iPad, preferably something that requires approximately two brain cells.

Culture

o Artist: Steve Jobs.

o Musician: Michael Monroe, the sheer embodiment of rock ’n’ roll.

The amazing Michael Monroe on stage. Photo taken by Eka in the front row, naturally

o Commercials director: Pekka Hara.

o Film director: Quentin Tarantino.

o Photographer: Markku Lähdesmäki.

o Film: The Unknown Soldier by Aku Louhimies (2017).

o Series: Star Trek, the original series.

o Commercial: Apple ‘1984’.

o Music Video: ‘Losing My Religion’ by R.E.M.

o Video Game: Call of Duty.

o Board Game: Monopoly.

o Book: The Count of Monte Cristo.

o Graphic Novel: Superman.

o Newspaper (off or online): Helsingin Sanomat, the newspaper of Helsinki.

o Magazine: Wired.

o Miscellaneous Art: All things contemporary art.

Food and Drink

o Breakfast: Full English breakfast with too much of everything.

o Restaurant: Mami in Turku.

o Cheap bite: Whopper.

o Working lunch: Traditional Finnish pea soup on Thursdays with a pancake.

o Dish: Sushi and sautéed reindeer.

o Snack: Apple.

o Guilty Pleasure: A humongous amounts of candy on every third Saturday of the month.

o Bar: Navy Jerry’s in Helsinki.

o Tipple: Dry Martini with three olives.

o Soft Tipple: Beer.

A beerfie at Iso-Pukki on the first day of my summer holiday. (This is Karhu beer - one of hasan & partners' client)

o Miscellaneous food: All things Mexican.

o Miscellaneous Beverage: Craft beer.

Kit

o Phone: iPhone.

o Computer: Mac.

o TV: Sony Bravia 52”.

o Headphones: Bose.

o Camera: Leica.

o Soundsystem: Bose.

o Pen / pencil: Yeah, right. Sorry, not traditional enough. Whatever pen that’s lying on my colleague’s desk – and it’s never returned by the way.

o Where you document an idea: Quite often on the tablecloth of the Sea Horse restaurant in Helsinki.

o Casual wear: Jeans and a t-shirt.

Eka dropping the opening puck at a Finnish Ice Hockey League game in his hometown Turku

o Smart wear: Jeans and a t-shirt with a jacket.

o Footwear: Nike.

o Watch: Tag Heuer Monaco.

o App: WhatsApp.

o Website: Facebook.

o Blog: Adweek’s blogs.

o Work program: Workplace (Facebook for work).

o Digital work tool: Pipedrive.

o Analogue work tool: Moleskine.

o Morning grooming / makeup essential: Wax without a comb.

o Miscellaneous Kit Essential: A New York Yankees cap for bad hair days – it’s amazing how many of those there are with this little hair. 

Enjoying the contemporary magic of Yayoi Kusama