Machina Launches to Bridge the Performance Gap Between Brands and Agencies
Michael Pierce and Bernadette Abasta have launched Machina, a marketing advisory designed to solve one of the most persistent problems in modern performance marketing: the absence of a truly unbiased voice between a brand’s internal marketing team and its media agencies. Machina operates across creative, media strategy, growth, and performance marketing — free of agency allegiances and focuses entirely on client outcomes.
“The marketing landscape has become extraordinarily complex," says Bernadette Abasta. "Michael and I started Machina because we kept seeing the same dynamic: brilliant internal marketing teams, strong agencies, and yet a gap between strategic clarity and execution. That’s the area we’re here to close."
The Latham Pool Spot: AI Rewrites the Archive
Machina’s first production project makes the firm’s capabilities immediately tangible. For Latham Pool, the team has delivered a new TV commercial built not from a fresh shoot but from footage captured in 2020. The spot’s opening sequence, set in and around an airport, was created entirely using artificial intelligence — including AI-generated versions of the original cast from the 2020 production, seamlessly woven into a new narrative that didn’t exist when that footage was first shot.
“The Latham Pool “Staycation” project is the clearest possible proof of what’s now possible," says Michael Pierce. "We leveraged real talent, real footage from five years ago, and used AI to put them in an airport and build an opening sequence that never existed. The client gets a new campaign, and the ad world starts seeing the possibilities”
Introducing RogerRoger: Machina’s AI Director Division
Alongside today’s launch, Machina announces RogerRoger — a dedicated AI Directors division for the production of TV commercials, feature films, and episodic content and is in partnership with feature film executive Guy Stodel, who has worked at Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Paramount Vantage, and Vendôme Pictures and produced projects ranging from acclaimed independent and major studio films, streaming, and genre hits for Sony Classics, Peacock Television, Netflix and Focus/Universal
RogerRoger is positioned as a production studio for the AI era — one that combines the creative instincts of experienced film and advertising talent with the generative capabilities of today’s most advanced AI production tools, all harnessed from its full-service post-facility in Hollywood. The division will take on projects across all three formats: spots, feature-length narrative film, and serialized episodic content.
The name is a nod to the language of production itself — the radio shorthand for “received and understood.” For Machina, it signals something more: a new kind of director that facilitates a larger vision, a wider scope of capabilities, and speaks the language of both commerce and cinema.
“RogerRoger isn’t about replacing the creative process — it’s about expanding what’s possible within it," says Michael. "Teaming with Guy to launch this division means we have the producing pedigree to back ambition. We’re not experimenting with AI. We’re making work with it.”
