Miami's Mia Network brought talent from three continents together to produce a pan-Latin American campaign for Nextel.

Conceived by McCann-Erickson, Miami, "Battle" positions the mobile phone company's online service as the perfect tool for business communications, depicting a team of executives using their text messaging to confer on the sly as they negotiate with a more traditional business team within a cathedral-like boardroom. Italian director Paolo Calcagni and French DP Michel Abramowicz collaborated on assembling the visuals for "Battle."

The team, led by creative director Bruno Martinez, traveled to their location in São Paulo, where, during Carnival, they managed to get through pre-production and a four-day shoot. Calcagni describes some of his work in preparing the battleground for the spot. "My references are usually from feature films. In this case, the reference for the light on the table is from Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, the style of the movements, the kind of people and their clothes remind me of an Oliver Stone film, while my references for the style of the graphics on the walls come from Wallpaper magazine," explains Calcagni.

"Mensajería," another spot in the campaign, was shot at the same time.

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Mia Films> www.miaclub.com

McCann-Erickson> www.mccann.com