On June 29, PUMA Volvo Ocean Racing powered by Berg Propulsion introduced Laird Hamilton, big wave surfer and father of modern stand-up paddleboarding, as the honorary 12th crew member of the PUMA Ocean Racing team. PUMA and Hamilton unite to search for the world’s biggest, ride-able waves and to launch a line of innovative stand-up paddleboards. In addition, PUMA revealed a new youth ocean preservation campaign and presented a mascot, educator and honorary 13th crew member, Marmo.

Today, April 19, at the Shanghai Auto Show, Volvo Cars unveiled its Volvo Concept Universe, the first concept since Volvo was acquired by Chinese automaker Geely. This is a luxury segment car that bears the dual cultural identity of its creators: on the one hand, it features Scandinavian luxury and approach to design, on the other hand, it is largely inspired by Chinese philosophy, as the designers were tasked with creating a car «with the depth of the universe and just as welcoming as the sun rising over a calm ocean.»

The story of close relationship between brands and cinematography started nearly at the same time as the cinema itself was born—in the beginning of the  movie era, the big companies promoted their products though short clips which were screened before movies. Now it’s not that easy to tell for sure for which product the pioneer ad was created, but according to a range of sources (IMDB is one of them), the first filmed advertising for a today’s global brand was shot for Dewar’s Scotch Whisky (1897). Today, connections between filmmaking industry and brands go beyond this simple presence and include a lot of examples such as much discussed product placement, festival sponsorship and opening cinema clubs, cinema-related advertising campaigns, collaboration with filmmakers on commercials, and creating movies under brands’ supervision.