Luma AI offers $1 million for Cannes Lions Gold-winning commercial

New Delhi: Luma AI has launched The Luma Dream Brief, a global creative competition inviting advertising creatives to bring their unmade ideas to life. The grand prize of $1 million will be awarded to work created using Luma AI that wins a 2026 Cannes Lions Gold Lion.

The competition, developed with experiential and creative agency DE-YAN, challenges participants to use Luma AI’s platform to produce fully realised commercials. It is built around the concept that many ambitious ideas never get made, not due to lack of originality, but because they are considered too risky, expensive, or difficult to visualise.

The competition allows creatives to leverage AI tools for content creation and advertising production.

Commenting on the initiative, Caroline Ingeborn, COO of Luma AI, said, “A lot of great advertising never gets made. The Dream Brief is about removing those constraints and letting creatives prove what’s possible when ideas set the ceiling.”

Jason Kreher, Chief Creative Officer at DE-YAN, said, “Almost everyone in advertising has an idea they loved that never saw the light of day. That shared frustration became the insight behind this project. Rather than fearing how generative AI might change our industry, this is a chance to understand it by using it to make something that previously had no path to being real.”

The Luma Dream Brief will be conducted in multiple phases, beginning with a launch week featuring original films created with Luma AI. Creatives will then be invited to submit their own commercials via The Luma Dream Brief website by March 22, 2026.

In accordance with Cannes Lions rules, Luma AI will provide a brief to ensure submissions are legitimate and created for a real client. Selected finalists will receive paid media support so that their work is publicly launched and eligible for award consideration. Submissions will be evaluated by a jury of leading figures in advertising and culture.