The Generated Awards celebrated the first winners in AI-generated commercial video. Illustration / New York Edge News
A Pac-Man came to life. Gorilla Glue hired a Chief Tough Officer. And a Vans ad that never aired won an award in a category that didn’t exist a year ago.
On May 27 at Lavan Chelsea, Generated Group held the first Generated Awards — the first awards show in the world built entirely around AI-generated commercial video. Creators, agencies, brands and platform builders filled the room. The work they came to see is moving faster than the conversation around it.
“The AI video industry is growing and changing every single day,” said Tanya Porquez, CEO of Generated Group. “We want to celebrate creators as often as possible because today’s state-of-the-art will be tomorrow’s commonplace.”
She kept the focus on people, not software. Every award went to a name. A director, an editor, a studio, a creator.
The winners:
Commercial of the Year — “The Watch,” Runway Creative and J. Felipe Orozco
Creator of the Year — PJ Accetturo
Best Storytelling — “The Perfection by Mistake,” a Lindor spec ad by Michal Kuzminski
Best Visual Effects — “Pac-Man,” Phil Lee
Best Direction — “Meet the New Chief Tough Officer,” The Gorilla Glue Company
Best Audio Experience — “Instant Grind” for Nescafe, Blackbrightstudio
Fictional Ad of the Year — “Puppramin,” PJ Accetturo
Spec Ad of the Year — “Vans,” Çağlasın Yılmaz and Bilgehan Yoldas
Accetturo took two. Creator of the Year, and Fictional Ad of the Year for “Puppramin,” a fake pharmaceutical spot that’s exactly as unhinged as the name suggests. The man understands the assignment.
Phil Lee’s “Pac-Man” pulled Best Visual Effects, taking a sealed arcade icon and turning it loose. Gorilla Glue won Best Direction for a spot introducing its new Chief Tough Officer, proving a brand can be in on the joke and still sell the product.
Then there’s the Vans ad. A spec piece. Never commissioned, never aired, made by two creators an ocean apart. It won Spec Ad of the Year. That’s the part worth sitting with — the spots competing here weren’t always paid for by a brand.
The comedy came from @TheEuropeanKid and @MyTechCEO, the identical twin brothers with millions of followers who almost never share a stage. Their bit ran on a clean premise: if AI cloning is the next big thing, why not just make more of themselves.
Porquez didn’t pretend the anxiety isn’t real. “There are real concerns around automation and the future of creative work,” she said. Her bet is that the way to shape that future is to name the artists building it responsibly and put them on a stage.
A few of these spots are genuinely good. Made faster and cheaper than any traditional shoot allows.
The next Generated Awards will take place Fall 2026, with submissions open now on a rolling basis and a new series, The Showrunners, following the creators driving the medium. The technology will keep getting better. The thing worth watching is who gets the credit when it does.
Related coverage on New York Edge News
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DATA Review: Theater Finally Catches Up to the Tech Era
Submissions for the next Generated Awards are open at GeneratedAwards.com. The next event is set for Fall 2026.
