By all accounts the decision was a relatively painless one with the Fox Sports spot winning with a two-thirds majority vote. The humorous John West spot features a bear in a martial arts fight with a cheeky fisherman who tries to steal his catch.
The ad, which broke last autumn, carries the tagline: "We endure the worst to bring you the best." It had already done very well in the UK cleaning up at all the major award ceremonies.
The winning Fox Sports campaign features fake TV footage of violent crazy events from far flung locations, such as blind folded club fights in India and cliff diving without water in Turkey.
In maybe what was intended as an ironic play on US insularity, the ads carry the tagline: "Sports news from the only region you care about. Yours."
In the end the UK surprised in the film category and won more Gold Lions than the US. The UK walked away with eight Golds while the US took six plus the Grand Prix. The two tied for total number of film wins with both walking away with 16.
The agency of the year prize, which is calculated on the basis of Lion wins across all four categories (print, film, media and cyber), went to F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi/S茫o Paulo. New York's @radical.media won the Palme D'Or, which goes to the most successful production company.