Pretty soon, when we're lying staring at the sky, we're likely to see Nike swooshes or Mercedes insignias floating above our heads thanks to a new cloud machine made by magician and Hollywood special effects entrepreneur Francisco Guerra.

His US-based company Snowmakers has developed a machine that can produce floating logos - or Flogos - made from soap and helium gas clouds molded into almost any shape a company wants.

The shapes can be as large as 4ft across and travel for 30 miles at heights of up to 20,000 ft.

Mr Guerra envisages the Flogos being used for promotions and events but in a more environmentally-friendly way than other traditional ways of aerial advertising such as banners, sky-writing or balloon launches.

[DM]