17 September 2026
Donostia-San Sebastián
The impact of technology on commercial relationships between brands and consumers was the focus of discussion at an event organised by Deusto Business Alumni in collaboration with BBVA, Eroski and Google, held at the University of Deusto’s San Sebastián Campus. Under the title «The transformation of marketing: data, artificial intelligence and new ways of connecting with customers«, the event brought together leading business executives to discuss the strategic redesign of organisations.
The event featured contributions from Ricardo Maldonado Montoya, Head of Digital Sales & Marketing at BBVA Spain; Iker Pérez de Arenaza, Director of Customer and Club Development at Eroski; and Ane Rezola, Partner Manager at Google. The session was moderated by Naiara Tobalina, General Director of Deusto Business Alumni. During the session, topics such as changing consumer behaviour, the strategic value of data, artificial intelligence, hyper-personalisation, the rise of content creators and the need to maintain trust and transparency in digital environments were discussed.
Technology for closer customer relationships
Antón Azlor, president of Deusto Business Alumni, opened the event by highlighting its aim of reflecting on the generation and transfer of value to users. Next, Marta Alonso, Director of BBVA’s Northern Regional Division, emphasised the speed at which business relationship models are changing and the ethical responsibility involved in the use of data. Alonso summarised the sector’s key challenge: «The challenge is not having lots of technology, but using it to understand our customers and get closer to them».
A more informed and demanding consumer profile
The speakers agreed that technological development has altered the balance between brands and consumers. Maldonado pointed out that democratising access to information gives customers greater analytical insight. Rezola highlighted the unpredictability of consumer behaviour and the need for brands to have a presence across multiple touchpoints simultaneously. Pérez de Arenaza of Eroski discussed the shift from conventional personalisation to mass hyper-personalisation, a phenomenon that has required organisations to adapt their processes and professional profiles to meet the needs of a more demanding, digital consumer with less tolerance for barriers in interactions.
Simplicity, direct interaction and trust
Faced with rising expectations, Maldonado identified simplicity and transparency-based personalisation as key customer demands. Rezola analysed the influence of artificial intelligence on search engines, noting that effective advertising must be designed as a direct response to users’ needs. She also highlighted content creators’ ability to build highly loyal communities as new conversational channels.
Turning big data into strategic value
Turning large volumes of information into practical knowledge is another key challenge. Pérez de Arenaza illustrated this challenge by analysing transactional behaviour in the food sector, which accounts for 16% of the household budget. Eroski manages the weekly distribution of between 17 and 18 million vouchers through an AI-powered promotional engine designed to optimise the relevance of each offer. At this point, Maldonado added that artificial intelligence provides the necessary context to give real value to the data collected.
The comprehensive impact of AI and a 360-degree view of the consumer
Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important driver of efficiency across the entire marketing value chain. While Rezola addressed the impact of AI-generated summaries on search, Maldonado highlighted their usefulness for optimising communications management. In the case of Eroski, Pérez de Arenaza identified three priority areas of application: personalised offers, early detection of customer churn and automation of 30% of communications.
The discussion concluded by addressing anticipating users’ needs and establishing a comprehensive 360-degree view of the customer as the sector’s ultimate goals. Finally, the speakers highlighted today’s consumers’ ability to filter content and engage critically, reaffirming that the differentiating factor in digital environments lies not in simply having vast amounts of data, but in building relationships based on trust.
