photos by Quintin Lundy
On February 4, attendees gathered in the Guild’s Los Angeles theater to salute the best in commercials during the 2026 Meet the Nominees: Commercials event. Following opening remarks by DGA Director of Commercial Contracts Winona Wacker, Director Lauren Greenfield moderated the panel featuring nominees Kim Gehrig (You Can’t Win. So Win [Nike] and I’m Not Remarkable [Apple]); Miles Jay (Dish, Pull Up and Trip [ChatGPT] and Home for the Holidays and Secret Santa [Meta]); and Spike Jonze (Someday [Apple Airpods 4]).
Their conversation covered topics including what kicked off each project and how they found the way to their vision, as well as other challenges they had to overcome to achieve their goals. They gave a glimpse into the dynamics with their directorial teams and dug into other aspects of their craft such as the amount of prep time they had for each spot. Their insightful back-and-forth shined a light on their creative process.
Nominees Andreas Nilsson (Conquer the First School Poo [Andrex], Garrett and Big Flex [Apple iPhone 16 Pro] and Trunk Trucker [Virgin Media]) and Steve Rogers (Bring a Book to Life [Amazon], A Tale as Old as Websites [Squarespace] and Everything is Fine [Coinbase] were unable to attend.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS:
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You Can’t Win. So Win. – Nike | Wieden+Kennedy I’m Not Remarkable – Apple | Client Direct This is Gehrig’s fourth DGA Award nomination. Gehrig previously won in this category in 2022 for The Greatest (Apple) and Run Baby Run (Apple iPhone 13); in 2023 for Run This Town (Apple) and The Travelers (Expedia); and was nominated in 2024 for A Life in Sound (SiriusXM), Am I a Bad Person? (Nike) and Find Your Friends (Apple). |
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Dish – ChatGPT | Isle of Any Pull Up – ChatGPT | Isle of Any Trip – ChatGPT | Isle of Any Home for the Holidays – Meta | Droga5 This is Jay’s third DGA Award nomination. Jay was previously nominated in this category in 2015 for It Can Wait (ESPN) and in 2017 for Alive (Bose Quiet Comfort 35 Headphones), Calling JohnMalkovich.com (Squarespace) and Who is JohnMalkovich.com? (Squarespace). |
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Someday – Apple Airpods 4 | TBWA\Media Arts Lab This is Jonze’s sixth DGA Award nomination. Jonze won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials in 2018 for Welcome Home (Apple Homepod); and again in 2019 for Dream It (Squarespace) and The New Normal (Medmen). Jonze was also nominated in this category in 2006 for Hello Tomorrow (Adidas), Penguin (Miller Beer) and Pardon Our Dust (Gap); and in the Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials category for Aziz Ansari: Right Now in 2019; and in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film category for Being John Malkovich in 1999. |
 Lauren Greenfield (moderator)Greenfield’s directorial credits include the documentary features The Kingmaker, Generation Wealth and Thin. She was nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for her 2012 feature The Queen of Versailles; and earned another DGA Award nomination in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials category for her Always spot, #LikeAGirl. Greenfield has been a DGA member since 2009. |
