The reveal: Ocon joined the official film press junket to show Tom Holland the custom collab in person. Tom seemed genuinely surprised, and fans loved it, the engagement racking up 2.7m views and 333k likes on Instagram. Watch the full video here.

Ocon will wear the helmet for both the Belgian and Hungarian GPs — they sit inside the film's wider press tour window rather than being scheduled independently of it, so the helmets function as ongoing promotion across two separate events rather than a single moment.

The trend: As mentioned this isn't new. Just in the last few weeks alone we've seen Google Gemini activate a trifecta of custom helmets for Silverstone weekend with Oscar Piastri and [FINISH THIS THOUGHT — who else was in the trifecta + link]

The opportunity: A custom helmet activation must be taken at face value, it's novelty. And current sponsorship discourse tells you to reject straight logo slapping, BUT personally I think it offers great creative potential to generate positive reach and noise.

However, you must either a) cross into culture or b) have a compelling story.

Don't tick one of these boxes and it becomes uninspiring straight up contractual asset use, that's when it becomes a missed opportunity and ultimately erodes driver brand familiarity (as outlined well in a post by Nirupam Singh here).

The vibes: Impeccable. It's a well shot and edited video which is aesthetically beautiful BUT critically doesn't look out of place on YouTube. Could easily see this being a longer episode.

The format: As a repeatable unscripted branded content series it leans on the pre-established success of the YouTube golf scene as a medium for conversational content - where the sport is a catalyst for the content and a natural conversation vs being the pure focus. The format will be taken across other sports going forward.

The anti-challenge video: So many player appearances are used to roll out predictable challenge videos, I'm so glad they didn't fall into this territory. If you watch the content, you'll see a small element sneaks in where they do a closest to the pin but it feels spontaneous (obviously it won't have been) and fun. In another dimension this would have been a Min Woo Lee vs Lewis chipping challenge video and I'm so glad they chose to respect the viewer.

The method: Google DeepMind used AI models Veo, Gemini Omni and Nano Banana Pro, but started with a physical shoot first, live-action footage filmed on the actual Rua Javari pitch using heavy leather balls and period-accurate uniforms, then fed that footage into the models.

AI's quest for meaning: This is just another example of the search for meaning with AI, particularly Gen AI. What we are seeing in real-time at the moment is all the major AI brands desperately trying to find new stories to tell which humanise and familiarise the tech whilst also showing the 'what if'.

Let your sponsors do cool sh*t: I love this activation from Mondo Duplantis and Red Bull - a photoshoot like you've never seen before feat Mondo and Desiré Duplantis.

Step inside Pep's office: Man City and Match Worn Shirts teamed up to auction off some authentic items from Guardiola's office - I love the detail of the auction - rather than a simple list you see the items in situ in his office.

LoFi reaction from LOEWE: As official travel wardrobe partner of the Spanish National Team, LOEWE got in on the World Cup celebrations with their own take on the 'World Cup TV photo trend' (if you missed it originally) - it's done great numbers, and it's interesting to see an official partner of the winners, who will have rights to use IP, go down a much more bootleg route - it's certainly very much in the art direction of a fashion house.