Customer Vineyard, a data analytics and marketing services company, on Thursday announced new funding, a new CEO and new board members, including one of the nation’s go-to beverage alcohol industry analysts.
The Noel Group, a North Carolina-based privately-owned industrial management company and parent company of Vinventions USA LLC and Nomaco, is investing further in the Napa-based startup to support plans for aggressive growth and expansion.
With this infusion of capital, Bryan Bunker, Noel Group’s vice president of strategy and development, joined the board of directors. Another seat on the board is being filled by Danny Brager, an industry expert in analysis and data translation, formerly senior vice president of Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice. Co-founder Mary Jo Dale was appointed CEO and president, moving up from an initial role as head of marketing.
The Noel Group was an early supporter of Customer Vineyard’s services that leverage the latest data analytics to direct-to-consumer wine marketing. New initiatives are said to focus on inter-company synergies.
“We are impressed with Customer Vineyard’s business progress and pleased to make this investment to further its successful growth strategy while supporting the wine industry overall,” Bunker said in the announcement. “Customer Vineyard’s platform delivers unique, data driven value to wineries, and we look forward it’s continued success.”
Brager’s role on board of directors will be to provide guidance and insight as Customer Vineyard brings its marketing solution to market, the company said. At Nielsen, he worked with clients in beer, wine and spirits industry.
“Customer Vineyard has the most effective solution I’ve ever seen for supporting wine businesses on their journey to become more sophisticated consumer marketers,” Brager said in the announcement.
Dale founded Customer Vineyard with Joel Miller, adjunct professor with Sonoma State University’s Executive MBA program and help from Rob McMillan of Silicon Valley Bank.
She said wineries focus on vinifying but often give little thought to an equally valuable asset: their customer base. Supported by Vinventions, Dale worked with the Wine Business Institute at Sonoma State University on what became Customer Vineyard.
“Mary Jo is uniquely qualified to lead this venture,” said Marc Verissimo, company chairman. “With wide-ranging experience in beverage, hospitality, and consumer-facing sectors, and more than two decades of experience tackling challenging data and marketing issues, we are thrilled to welcome Mary Jo as CEO and President of Customer Vineyard.”
Customer Vineyard passed along a couple of comments from its users:
“Customer Vineyard’s data insights and advanced marketing techniques helped us create ongoing, profitable programs that keep our customers at the heart of everything we do,” said Barbora Hawkins, director of consumer sales and marketing at St. Francis Winery & Vineyards.
Tom Bonomi of Kistler Vineyards said, “We have partnered with Customer Vineyard over the last three years on many projects, including building our next generation database and analytics platform as well as executing operational programs to increase profitability. Their insights, wine business expertise and team have consistently delivered value throughout our relationship.”
