The Evolution of AI in Marketing: A Discussion with Rafa Flores at Treasure AI

Rafa Flores, Chief Product and Growth Officer of Treasure AI, joins the podcast to talk about his career path from engineering recruiter to “boomerang” leader returning after six years away, and Treasure Data’s rebrand to Treasure AI. Flores says the shift is an evolution based on the company’s machine-learning and predictive heritage, its technical DNA of using AI internally, and a desire to create a lifestyle-like community brand.

He explains Treasure AI Studio, which orchestrates CDP and activation in plain English across web and mobile, enabling faster troubleshooting, campaign deployment, and real-time insights. Flores argues first-party data remains a “goldmine” but must be activated incrementally with governed access; how AI helps answer questions quickly but requires guardrails, discusses fear and overemphasis on speed/cost versus value and predicts growth of “digital workers”.

 

About Treasure AI

Treasure AI is the agentic experience platform helping the world's most loved brands finally activate the customer data they already have. Founded in 2011 and backed by SoftBank, the company spent 15 years quietly building the infrastructure behind some of the most recognizable names in retail, automotive, CPG, and financial services — before rebranding in 2026 to reflect what it had always been building toward. Named a Forrester Wave Leader for B2C CDPs, Treasure AI unifies fragmented first-party data into a single living customer profile and puts AI to work on it in real time, on behalf of human marketers who set the strategy and make the calls. The result for brands like Nestlé, AB InBev, Stellantis, and Condé Nast is measurable: millions in recovered media spend, significant revenue generated, and marketing teams that finally get to go home on time.

 

About Rafa Flores

Rafa Flores is the Chief Product and Growth Officer at Treasure AI, where he leads product strategy and growth with a simple conviction: the best technology gives people their time back. A builder by nature and a father of four, Rafa has always believed that progress is personal — that the products worth building are the ones that free someone up to be more present, more creative, and more human. That belief drives everything from how he runs his teams to the unconventional call he made to give away free access to a platform traditionally reserved for Fortune 500 companies, a bet that raised eyebrows and is already showing results. He brings that same bias toward progress to every stage he walks onto. 

Time Stamps

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:39 Rafa’s Career Journey

01:53 Returning to Treasure Data

03:25 Move at Speed of Now

04:12 Rebrand to Treasure AI

07:22 Lifestyle Brand in B2B

09:57 AI Studio Use Cases

12:37 First Party Data Goldmine

16:29 AI Hype and Real Value

18:38 Digital Workers Ahead

20:31 SaaS Future and Guardrails

23:59 PLG Try Now Campaign

26:02 Advice and Wrap Up

 

Quotes

"It's not just about how much time AI can save you, it's also about how much revenue it can drive for the business." Rafa Flores, CPO at Treasure AI.

"Digital workers are about better supporting the human in the loop." Rafa Flores, CPO at Treasure AI.

"The biggest mistake is everyone wants to rush to deploy AI."  Rafa Flores, CPO at Treasure AI.

 

Follow Rafa:

Rafa Flores on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ref2019/

Rafa Flores on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/people/rafaelflores/

Treasure AI website: https://www.treasure.ai/

Treasure AI YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TreasureData

 

Follow Mike:

Mike Maynard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemaynard/

Napier website: https://www.napierb2b.com/

Napier LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/napier-partnership-limited/

 

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