Today we’d like to introduce you to Francisco Contreras-Rodriguez.
Hi Francisco, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My marketing journey started with video games. When I was still in high school I ran a Minecraft server with my friends, and I figured out pretty quick, a server with no players is an empty world. There were thousands of servers out there all going after the same players, so I had to find a way to stand out. So I built us a website. I designed the logo, the banners, the whole layout, wrote up what made our server different, and posted on forums and server listings to get people in. I didn’t know the words for it back then, but I was doing branding, positioning, and community building. That was my first real taste of marketing, and it brought together the two things I loved since I was a little kid, technology and art.
Art has always been a big part of my life. I grew up going to shows, gigs, and concerts with my friends all through my childhood and college years. So when it came time to pick a school, I already knew from the Minecraft days what I liked and what I wanted to keep doing. I went with graphic design school over a CS degree because at the end of the day, art won.
I graduated, went on to work in graphic design at a marketing agency, and it was there I found my calling. I loved everything about marketing. It was this nice blend of creative work and technical work, and both have stuck with me to this day. From there I leaned into marketing and never looked back.
My career took off when I joined Grupo Flor, and it was there I met my mentor, Mike Bitar. Mike has been a cornerstone of my professional career and supported me through my entire stay at the company. Grupo Flor is where I created the brand Paletas, which I pitched during my interview process. During my first interview, I noticed a whiteboard in the conference room with a list of brands they were working on. One of them was “El Paletero,” the ice cream man. Good concept, but I knew it would go further if we coined it as more of a jewel brand, something standing on its own. So we got to work, and we accomplished a lot together. One of those wins was opening the first cannabis retail location inside a mall, and we did it all within 78 days of starting the project. I wore a lot of different hats on the operations side, from guerrilla to traditional, paid ads, digital, ecommerce, and everything in between.
After my time at Grupo, I moved on to Adidas, where I managed part of Western Europe and Latin America before transitioning to the North American team on product marketing. From there I landed at Tide Cleaners and grew their installation network across the country through product marketing and marketing infrastructure. Along the way I got to work with brands like the Chicago Bulls, Facebook, Microsoft, DHL, Fresh Express, and FedEx.
After two years living in Chicago, I made the move back to the Central Coast, and it wasn’t a hard choice. I saw a huge opportunity here. There are so many great local businesses in this area with real potential, and most of them don’t have access to the kind of marketing I spent my career doing for the big brands. I knew I could take everything I learned, the schooling, the agency work, the years with global teams, and put it to work helping local businesses and any business grow exponentially.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Has it been a smooth road? Not in the slightest, but I’m better because of it.
I immigrated here with my parents when I was two years old, so I’m what you’d call generation zero. When you start from that place, you learn early on nothing gets handed to you. My path has had its share of failed projects, failed businesses, and everything in between. Each one taught me something I couldn’t have learned any other way, and I wouldn’t trade any of it. Every setback sharpened how I work, how I plan, and how I show up for my clients today.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Machina is a growth marketing agency I started here on the Central Coast. We help businesses grow through branding, web design, digital, paid ads, ecommerce and everything in between. I spent my career doing this kind of work for global brands, and when I moved back home I saw so many great local businesses that never had access to that level of marketing, so that’s what Machina is all about, taking everything I’ve learned over the years and putting it to work for the businesses in my own community. I’d say what sets us apart is that when you work with Machina, you’re working directly with me and everything I bring to the table. I’ve managed marketing across Western Europe, Latin America and North America, I’ve built brands from the ground up like Paletas, which started as an idea I pitched during a job interview, and I’ve been part of projects most people didn’t think could happen, like opening the first cannabis retail location inside a mall within 78 days of starting the project. So when a client sits down with us, they’re getting all of that experience focused on their business, not handed off to a junior team or lost somewhere in a big agency process. Brand wise, what I’m most proud of is honestly Machina itself. Getting to build my own company in the place I grew up, doing the work I love, there’s nothing like it, and every client we help grow adds to that.
And what I want readers to know is this, if you have a business and you know there’s more potential in it than what you’re seeing right now, that’s exactly who Machina is for. You don’t need to be a big brand to get big brand marketing, and we’re right here on the Central Coast ready to get to work.
Any big plans?
Right now Machina is still in its early chapters, so the plan for the future is really about growth, growing our client base, growing our presence here on the Central Coast, and eventually growing a team so we can take on more of the businesses that need us. I’m working on expanding into new industries and building out our services so that no matter what kind of business walks through the door, we have a way to help them grow. One thing I’m really proud of is that we’ve also started working with local non profits. Right now we’re rebuilding the marketing infrastructure at the Veterans Transition Center of California, an organization helping veterans and their families transition from military service to civilian life. Getting to put our work behind people who are already doing so much good for the community is exactly the kind of impact I had in mind when I started Machina. What I’m most looking forward to is honestly just seeing our clients win. Every time a local business or organization we work with starts seeing real growth, that’s the whole reason I came back home to build this. Long term, I want Machina to be the name that comes to mind when any business around here thinks about marketing, the same way I got to see the big brands operate from the inside, I want to build something at that level right here in my own community. There’s a lot of work ahead and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wearemachina.com
